Cyberattack on medical software exposes industry's vulnerability

Hackers use viruses to encrypt companies' information systems, unlocking data when ransom is paid

Many doctors still can’t use a transcription service made by Nuance Communications three weeks after the company was hit by a powerful, debilitating computer attack.

Hospital systems including Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said eScription, a Nuance staple product that allows physicians to dictate notes from a telephone, still isn’t functioning. The outage obliterated doctors’ instructions to patients, forcing some to revert to pen and paper.

The computer virus, called Petya, has sent ripples through health care, among the last industries to make the switch to digital record keeping and one of the most frequently