Brooklyn Hospital Network victim of cyber hack crash

New York state health officials have admitted that a network of Brooklyn hospitals whose computer systems crashed last month, wreaking havoc on patients and staff, faced a cyber hack attack.

“The New York State Department of Health is aware of an incident and is working with One Brooklyn Network to ensure patient safety,” State Health Department spokesman Jeffrey Hammond said late Monday.

“As there is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment further.”

One Brooklyn Health oversees the Brookdale, Interfaith, and Kingsbrook Jewish Hospitals — so-called “safety-net” facilities because they are among the city’s poorest and most needy patients and receive tens of millions of dollars in subsidies from the state.

The network’s board of directors is chaired by billionaire Alexander Rovt, a mega-donor to Governor Kathy Hochul.

Meanwhile, One Brooklyn Health CEO Laray Brown also recently sent a note to medical staff confirming that the database crash that compromised access to patient records was the result of cybersecurity mischief.

“Our ongoing investigation so far has confirmed that the network disruption resulted from a cybersecurity incident,” Brown said.

She said she referred law enforcement agencies to investigate the alleged cyber hacking crime.

“We are in contact with the appropriate federal, state and local agencies and regulators regarding this incident,” Brown said.

The admission by state regulators comes after former Brooklyn City Councilman and mayoral candidate Sal Albanese and medical attorney James Schiffer publicly claimed the hospital system was hacked and a $5 million cyber ransom was paid by hackers suspended to clean up the mess.

“Amazing, One Brooklyn Hospital System (consisting of merger of 3 hospitals) has been hacked and criminals are demanding 5 million ransom. Meanwhile, these vital facilities work with pen and paper as they don’t pay ransom. According to one employee, Albanese said in a tweet.

Schiffer, an attorney and licensed pharmacist with ties to One Brooklyn Health, told The Post, “They were hacked. They’re afraid to publish it because they’re afraid people won’t go to the hospitals.”

Schiffer, a partner at Allegaert Berger & Vogel, said One Brooklyn Health is trying to rebuild its hospital database systems rather than pay ransoms.

Brown told staff that 250 computers and 775 mobile devices and laptops were distributed around the hospitals to bypass data systems, which have been offline since November 17.

The health care honcho said some services have been restored.

“I can’t promise a timetable for when all of our systems will be operational again,” Brown said.

She emphasized that “our facilities remain open and we continue to serve our patients with established downtime.”