CNN
—
A main US well being care system stated Thursday that it’s diverting ambulances from “a number of” of its hospitals following a cyberattack this week.
The cyberattack on Ascension, a St. Louis-based nonprofit community that features 140 hospitals in 19 states, can be disrupting entry to digital well being data, some telephone methods and “varied methods utilized to order sure checks, procedures and medicines,” Ascension stated in a statement distributed Thursday night.
The sprawling well being care community, which additionally owns 40 senior residing amenities, stated that it might be utilizing “downtime process for a while,” due to the cyberattack. Downtime procedures are usually when well being suppliers revert to backup processes, together with paper data, that enable them to take care of sufferers when computer systems are down.
News of the hack broke on Wednesday, and Ascension has within the final 24 hours adopted a well-known playbook for a lot of American organizations which have been assaulted by cybercriminals. Ascension has notified federal authorities of the incident, employed outstanding US cybersecurity agency Mandiant to get better from the incident and shut down methods to attempt to preserve the incident beneath management.
“We’re actively supporting our ministries as they proceed to supply protected, affected person care with established downtime protocols and procedures, through which our workforce is properly skilled,” Ascension stated in its assertion Thursday night.
It was not clear what number of Ascension hospitals had been sending ambulances to different places due to the cyberattack. An Ascension spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the matter.
It’s solely the newest main hacking incident that has hobbled a giant US well being care community and despatched US officers scrambling to supply help.
A February ransomware assault on Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of well being care large UnitedHealth Group, brought on billing disruptions at pharmacies throughout the US and threatened to put some well being suppliers out of enterprise. A 3rd of Individuals might have had their private knowledge swept up within the hack, UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty estimated in testimony to Congress this month. UnitedHealth paid a $22 million ransom to the cybercriminals to attempt to shield affected person knowledge, Witty stated.
That Change Healthcare hack incensed US lawmakers and prompted questions throughout the federal authorities concerning the vulnerability of America’s well being care system to disruptive cyberattacks with cascading impacts — questions that the cyberattack on Ascension will do nothing to assuage.