A hospital employee inadvertently attached a file to a patient email that exposed the data of thousands of other patients.
Cybersecurity
Ascension, a 140-hospital system based in St. Louis, continued to deal with the fallout of a ransomware attack more than two weeks after the hack took its IT network offline.
In April, hackers breached the IT network of CentroMed, a healthcare provider based in San Antonio, Texas, compromising the protected health information of 400,000 patients.
Hospitals and health systems continue to be targeted by ransomware hackers, disrupting patient care and costing millions of dollars in recovery costs.
Multiple hospital groups are urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to hold UnitedHealth's subsidiary Change Healthcare accountable for providing breach notifications regarding its February cyberattack.
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There was once honor among thieves. When it came to cyber threats, hackers considered the healthcare industry as the "untouchable" sector, shielded by an unspoken rule that some lines shouldn't be crossed.
St. Louis-based Ascension has started holding meetings with partners and vendors to discuss reconnecting to the health system's network following a May 8 cyberattack.
Trego County Lemke Memorial Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital in Wakeeney, Kan., is recovering from a ransomware attack May 6, according to a KAKE.com report, the local ABC affiliate.
Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago said it is "no longer addressing an active cybersecurity matter" after a cyberattack disrupted the hospital's operations earlier this year.
Recent cyberattacks on healthcare organizations have raised concerns about potential financial repercussions, particularly regarding their credit ratings. However, according to Fitch Ratings, these cyber incidents are unlikely to impact the credit standings of the affected organizations.