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May 19 2021

Cohesity Helps Sky Lakes Medical Center Quickly Recover From a Ransomware Attack, Saving Money and Potentially Saving Lives

Oregon Hospital Recovered More Than 600 Servers and 150 Applications Without Paying the Ransom By Relying on a Cohesity-Cisco Data Management Solution

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San Jose, Calif. – May 19, 2021 – Cohesity customer Sky Lakes Medical Center, a hospital located in Klamath Falls, Oregon, was able to successfully recover all of its servers and applications following a ransomware attack, all without paying a penny of the ransom. Not only did the effort save the healthcare provider money and preserve trust in its systems, but it also helped it treat patients largely without disruption, potentially saving lives.

In October 2020, Sky Lakes was breached by a massive ransomware attack. While this could have been a devastating blow to the organization, the comprehensive Cisco–Cohesity hyperscale data management solution utilized by Sky Lakes played a key role in greatly mitigating the impact of the attack. 

Sky Lakes relied on Cohesity DataProtect and its anti-ransomware capabilities including immutable backup snapshots, DataLock capabilities that prevent modifying or deleting the backup, and other built-in protections to respond and rapidly recover data at scale — allowing the information systems team to reject the cybercriminal’s demands.

Cohesity also eliminated time-consuming tape backup recovery processes, speeding restores with virtually no data loss. In the end, Cohesity was able to help Sky Lakes recover roughly 650 servers and 150 applications, including those with clinical, financial, and materials management functionality.

“Little did we know that Cohesity was going to literally rescue Sky Lakes from having to pay a ransom,” said John Gaede, director of information systems, Sky Lakes Medical Center. “The backup and recovery technology just flat-out worked. We ultimately recovered all of our servers, and Cohesity worked time and time again throughout that process.”

The importance of such a recovery can’t be overstated, particularly for a medical center with the size and reputation of Sky Lakes. The effort saved millions of dollars, helped preserve the integrity of the institution, and enabled the organization to continue to treat patients and help keep its community healthy.

“We were able to recover our clinical systems, and one of the first was for our cancer treatment center,” said Sam Stewart, network systems analyst, Sky Lakes Medical Center. “Cancer doesn’t wait for anybody, and if patients are unable to get timely treatment, cancer will win that battle. So, you could argue, quite literally, that Cohesity saved lives in this instance.”

“This incident highlights just how vital modern data management and disaster recovery is, particularly in industries such as healthcare where data is critical to the wellbeing of a community’s citizens,” said Matt Waxman, vice president of Product Management, Cohesity. “While we wish these attacks would not happen in the first place, the hard truth is they are a reality that organizations of all sizes need to be prepared for, as it’s often not a matter of if, but when.”

Sky Lakes was among the first to test and deploy the validated Cisco–Cohesity 40G design. In addition to modern backup, Sky Lakes relies on Cohesity SmartFilesopens in a new tab, a solution for file and object services that is part of the Cohesity Helios multicloud data platform that goes beyond traditional scale-out NAS. Healthcare providers need to manage an array of data types including tens of thousands of electronic healthcare records that contain unstructured data such as images and scans. SmartFiles running on Cisco HyperFlex lowered Sky Lakes Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) total cost of ownership (TCO) by using Cisco HyperFlex as a cache tier for radiology images and Cohesity SmartFiles as an archive tier. 

“There was already 100 percent consensus among our engineers that the Cohesity-Cisco solution worked reliably, was easy to use, and we were all more productive with it,” Gaede added. “Now, there’s also agreement that Cohesity is the best solution to combat ransomware attacks.”

To learn more about combating ransomware, sign up to participate in this webinaropens in a new tab with Sky Lakes’ John Gaede, Christophe Bertrand, senior analyst, ESG, and Raj Dutt, senior director, product marketing, Cohesity.

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About Cohesity

Cohesity is the leader in AI-powered data security. Over 13,600 enterprise customers, including over 85 of the Fortune 100 and nearly 70% of the Global 500, rely on Cohesity to strengthen their resilience while providing Gen AI insights into their vast amounts of data. Formed from the combination of Cohesity with Veritas’ enterprise data protection business, the company’s solutions secure and protect data on-premises, in the cloud, and at the edge. Backed by NVIDIA, IBM, HPE, Cisco, AWS, Google Cloud, and others, Cohesity is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, with offices around the globe. To learn more, follow Cohesity on LinkedInX, and Facebook.


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