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Ransomware attack on West Allis company
Ransomware attack on West Allis company
WEST ALLIS -- Hundreds of dental offices across the country were targeted in a ransomware attack. PerCSoft, IT company that was attacked, is based out of West Allis. It wasn't immediately clear whether patient data, including Social Security numbers, was compromised.
FOX6 News visited a dental office on Friday, Aug. 30. Staff explained their system was down, and they wouldn't be able to schedule an appointment or look up any information.
As it turned out, the office was targeted in the attack impacting dental offices nationwide.
Most offices rely on a computer to schedule patients and store important patient data. Around 400 offices around the country had to try to operate without a computer after a software system was hacked.
FOX6 reached out to multiple offices impacted in southeast Wisconsin. While none were willing to comment, some did take to Facebook to vent their frustrations. One posted, "More and more lost hours and revenue, with patients getting more and more frustrated. Very embarrassing for all of us." Another said, "We are having issues seeing patients and keeping our people working. This is extremely frustrating."
In a release from the Wisconsin Dental Association, they explained the issues had to do with IT vendor PerCSoft based out of West Allis. PerCSoft is used to back up client data for digital dental records. PerCSoft was targeted by a ransomware attack on Monday, Aug. 26.
A ransomware attack is when an attacker locks valuable digital files and demands a ransom to release them.
On Friday, Aug. 30, days after the attack, many offices still did not have access to their files.
PerCSoft officials did not return calls from FOX6, but company leaders were also actively posting on Facebook.
In a post Friday morning, company leaders said they were, "Making more and more progress on recoveries," and they were working on messaging for patients.
The Wisconsin Dental Association issued statements Friday, and Thursday, Aug. 29: