A security incident that affected more than half of those properties was brought to National Veterinary Associates' attention. This event cut off several veterinary practices from their patient information, payment processing, and practice management software. On October 27, according to NVA, the ransomware outbreak was identified. Shortly after, two outside security firms were recruited to look into and stop the attack. Regarding the ransomware and if it paid the demanded ransom, NVA declined to comment. The infection spread to over 400 locations. The Exchange and Active Directory servers had malware. Access to the patient information management systems (PIMs) was immediately lost at several of the afflicted locations.