PORT ANGELES — Olympic Medical Center has beefed up its computer security after the “WannaCry” ransomware attack that infected computers across the world last month.
OMC Information Technology Manager Sean Johnson told the OMC Board of Commissioners that hospital staff had learned about the virus May 12, before it had been in the news across the world. It did not affect OMC, he said.
Hospital staff were told to be extra cautious, he added.
Johnson said the hospital now does monthly security patches on hospital computers.
The plan was to transition into more frequent security patches by the end of summer, but the virus highlighted the need to increase frequency, he said.
“This shows the importance of it,” he said.
Training can help
Johnson said there is not a computer network anywhere that is not vulnerable to attacks but emphasized that training computer users can prevent attacks.
Most attacks, he said, are successful either because a password was hacked or because a computer user has bad habits and lets an attacker in unintentionally.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsula dailynews.com.
