Possible cyberattack impacting Florida Dept. of Health records system

TAMPA - As one woman grieves the loss of her mother, she is facing another uphill battle, after an apparent cyberattack on a state records system.

On Friday, the Florida Department of Health confirmed to FOX 35 in Orlando that it may have been hacked.

The system provides death certificates and other personal documentation.

Fonda Emard hasn’t been able to get her mother’s death certificate after she died nearly two weeks ago.

"I haven't been able to grieve my mom for two weeks because I'm busy trying to put the pieces of her life together," Emard said.

Emard says her mother died on June 25. She says she went to the funeral home to get her mother’s ashes and death certificate the following week, but was told that the state system was hacked.

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"And so, nobody was able to get any death certificates or any certificates whatsoever," Emard said.

Emard says she hasn’t been able to settle any of her mother’s financial or personal affairs without a death certificate.

"I get calls from people wanting money, and I'm like, ‘They passed away.’ ‘Okay, well then send me a death certificate.’ I don't have one to send," she said.

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Emard says the processes for repairing and selling her mother’s house, closing out her bank accounts and shutting off her cable and internet have been stalled.

"We got to sell the house, because I can't afford a second mortgage," Emard said. "I can't afford to keep paying the utilities and everything."

Emard says she feels lucky that she was even able to get her mother’s ashes. She says she’s been in constant contact with the funeral home, and says she was told that the cyberattack has caused a backup with cremations as well.

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"I, at least, got my mom's remains back, but what about the people who, for two weeks now, haven't even been able to put their loved ones to rest?" she said.

The Department of Health shared the following statement with FOX 35 in Orlando on Friday:

"There have been temporary outages of the online Vital Statistics system following a potential cyber incident. As is standard practice, the Department is coordinating with law enforcement and all relevant stakeholders. Any affected parties will be notified as a comprehensive assessment of the situation is completed."

The DOH says only its Vital Statistics system was impacted, and that the majority of its services remain operational with no disruptions. But there was no timeline on how long the system might be down.

"Somebody needs to get on the ball and fix it," Emard said. "There are people waiting for this information."

FOX 13 reached out to the Florida Department of Health for an update and received the following statement:

"The Florida Department of Health (Department) is working diligently to resolve the temporary outage impacting the online Vital Statistics system. To facilitate continued operations of death certificates, the Department has worked closely with funeral homes and health care facilities to implement offline procedures during this period. These instructions have been provided to all licensed funeral directors statewide. In addition, all county health departments have been provided the necessary resources to issue death certificates offline during this time.

We also request the support from health care facilities and physicians to expedite hand-signed death certificates. This collaboration across all partners will assist families in navigating difficult times with minimal disruption."

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