UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester, Mass., is boosting security on email and external messaging to attempt to curb ransomware attacks, according to an article on the Becker’s Hospital Review website.

UMass has placed inhibitors on external links, scrubbing external emails and links and  examining any email with attachments and quarantining suspicious emails.

Signature Healthcare based inBrockton, Mass., blocked external emails for a few days. The block was eventually lifted, but Signature  has placed tighter restrictions on the types of emails that can be received.

Holyoke (Mass.) Medical Center also recently shut down emails allow its IT security team to comb through emails and find suspicious messages. The hospital is now flagging all emails with attachments to double-check them.

There has been a significant increase in ransomware attempts against organizations responding to the pandemic, according to a Built article.

The pandemic pushed hospital staff that were able to work remotely — departments like vendor support and administration — into the home office. 

Read the full Becker’s Hospital Review article.