Ransomware Contained, Hospital Back Online In 36 Hours.
Multi-site hospital network hit by a ransomware operator. Tech Critic ran IR, recovered the domain, rebuilt the network with segmentation, and trained staff before disengaging.
The Situation
What They
Were Up Against.
A regional hospital network with several facilities and over 1,000 endpoints was hit overnight by a ransomware actor. By the time IT logged in for the day, primary domain controllers were encrypted, file shares were locked, and the EHR vendor was warning about API unavailability. The CIO had three priorities at once: get the hospital operationally functional within the day, preserve forensic evidence for the cyber-insurance claim, and rebuild a network that wouldn't get hit again.
Why They Called Us
The Fit.
Their existing MSP was overwhelmed. They needed a senior incident-response team that could plug in within hours, lead the recovery without taking the contract from the MSP, and own the network hardening that had to come next. Tech Critic engaged on the call within 90 minutes of first contact.
What We Did
The Work.
- Initial triage call within the first hour; forensic preservation kicked off in parallel with containment
- Isolated affected segments while keeping operationally critical systems (clinical telemetry, paging) live
- Re-imaged and rebuilt the primary domain controller plus two new secondary and tertiary controllers for redundancy
- Re-segmented the network with new VLANs and replaced aging switches across the campus
- Recreated the VPN solution with DUO MFA integration and updated firewall rule sets to deny-by-default
- Re-imaged every desktop and laptop, patched to current baseline, and rejoined to the rebuilt domain
- Validated backups, rebuilt PDM/file-share servers with replication to the remote site
- Delivered end-user training on the new password and access policies before declaring closure
The Outcome
Real
Numbers.
until clinical systems were back online
until full operational recovery
patient data records lost
- Cyber-insurance claim approved using the forensic evidence package we delivered alongside the timeline reconstruction
- Post-incident network now runs three domain controllers, segmented VLANs, MFA-gated VPN, and deny-by-default firewalls
- Internal IT team trained and operating the new posture without ongoing IR support
- Tabletop exercise conducted at 90 days validated the IR runbook and identified two additional hardening items
Tech Stack
What We Used.
Tech Critic walked into a burning building, calmly told us what to do for the next four hours, and didn't leave until we were running on better infrastructure than we had before the attack.
Healthcare · Anonymized Client
Got Something
That Looks Like This?
Tap a senior consultant. 30-minute call, no deck, no pitch. We'll tell you whether we're the right fit.