On Tuesday, April 29, 2025 Gardner Orthopedics LLC, located in Fort Myers, Florida, determined that it was the target of an organized and malicious cyber attack. The company identified suspicious activity on their network and promptly initiated their incident response protocols. Despite having multiple layers of security already in place, a data breach occurred on the company’s main internal servers. The attack appears to be part of a larger trend of cyber attacks affecting the medical industry.
The company immediately enlisted third party cyber security experts to halt and contain the attack, and then rebuild and extensively strengthen the network to insure future threats are averted. Software systems were changed, system access and encryption systems were upgraded, and additional security firewalls and threat detection safeguards were installed and enhanced.
The company’s backup servers were unaffected and were able to be utilized to rebuild the network and restore the system to operational within a week of the breach. The company has returned to business as usual. All appropriate steps were taken regarding HIPPA regulations and notification to all affected patients whose personal and/or medical data may have been compromised is in process.
The company remains firmly committed to caring for and supporting their patients while teams review the potentially impacted data and determine the specific data involved.
This is a very regrettable malicious attack on the company and the investigation into the cyber attackers responsible for the incident is in its early stages and is still ongoing.
Any questions regarding this incident can be directed to Gardner Orthopedics at (239) 277-7070 Monday through Thursdays 8:00am to 5:00 pm and Fridays 8:00 am to noon, EST.
