The incident, which had been described as a "network security breach," was in fact due to extortion malware, officials said.

The Maryland Department of Health has not been able to provide updates on several key metrics since the Dec. 5 incident.

The Maryland Department of Health took many IT systems offline, including its main website, in response to a cyberattack.

A court battle with its technology vendor has ended in a settlement payout to the state's health department.