ChristianaCare's website restored after attack; pro-Russia 'hacktivist' group takes credit

The main ChristianaCare website went down Tuesday evening as the hospital system experienced a "distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack," according to a statement from the health care system.

The attack − which is achieved by overwhelming a site with a "flood of internet traffic" − was "consistent with other incidents reported this week impacting health care organizations around the world," ChristianaCare said.

This comes as pro-Russian "hacktivist" group KillNet took credit for hacking the health care system's website — as well as those from systems in every state across the U.S. — on a list posted to social media Tuesday.

The hospital said service was restored within a few hours and affected only access to ChristianaCare's public website. No other information technology systems or data security were impacted by the attack, according to the hospital.

Additionally, the hospital and other medical services remained "fully functional" through the incident, ChristianaCare said.

A similar hack was reported in hospital systems nationwide on Monday, and it is unclear if there have been any data breaches. The hacker group was also responsible for taking down U.S. airport websites in October.

MORE TO READ:University of Michigan Health public websites hit by pro-Russian cyberattack

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center last month warned U.S. health care and public health providers about hacktivist groups, including KillNet.

Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on Twitter at @h_edelman.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: ChristianaCare website targeted in cyberattack affecting health care