Most or all of Ascension's 139 hospitals across the country have been affected by the attack. Ascension is one of the largest health systems in the country.
"We have engaged Mandiant, a third party expert, to assist in the investigation and remediation process, and we have notified the appropriate authorities," Ascension said in a news release Thursday morning. "Together, we are working to fully investigate what information, if any, may have been affected by the situation. Should we determine that any sensitive information was affected, we will notify and support those individuals in accordance with all relevant regulatory and legal guidelines."
Diverting patients can happen if a specific unit at a specific hospital is filled up; though an entire diversion appears to be a rare occurrence. Walk-ins to the hospital emergency rooms can't be turned away; federal law requires hospitals to stabilize anyone who walks through the door with an emergency health concern.
Ascension said on that on Wednesday it "detected unusual activity on select technology network systems, which we now believe is due to a cybersecurity event."
"At this time we continue to investigate the situation," the news release says. "Access to some systems have been interrupted as this process continues."
The attack has impacted operations at Ascension hospitals differently across the country, including leaving some medical staff unable to access medical records and having to use pen and paper instead of digital files.
At St. Francis and St. Joseph, staff are having to use pen and paper and announce medical emergencies over the PA system because their pagers are down, according to a spokesperson representing the union covering those hospitals.
This comes just days after Wichita reported a cyber attack that has caused city officials to change many city operations. That attack is being claimed by a Russian hacker group known as LockBit, which, in an indictment released this week, was called "the most prolific and destructive ransomware group in the world." The deadline for Wichita to pay the ransom appears to be May 15.
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