Cybersecurity

The hacking group that reportedly attacked St. Louis-based Ascension typically gives victims between 10 to 12 days to pay ransom before leaking their data.

Meteorologists track storm cells, which gives us time to mitigate disaster. Likewise, as those of us in health care keep a “storm watch” for potential disasters and emergencies, we can prepare for every possible situation that could affect operational resilience.

St. Louis-based Ascension confirmed that it suffered a ransomware attack. 

The cyberattack St. Louis-based Ascension suffered May 8 is being called a ransomware incident, CNN reported May 10. 

Ransomware group Black Basta is accelerating its attacks against the healthcare industry, according to a May 10 report from the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center.  

Baltimore-based Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital's emergency department resumed seeing new patients in the midst of dealing with a cybersecurity incident that is hampering Ascension facilities, The Baltimore Sun reported May 10. 

The Biden administration plans to introduce cybersecurity mandates for hospitals that would be accompanied by free training for smaller facilities, Bloomberg reported.

A cybersecurity incident has left 140-hospital Ascension with its EHR disabled, some appointments and surgeries postponed, and the expectation that the 19-state health system will operate on downtime procedures "for some time." 

The February cyberattack on UnitedHealthcare's subsidiary Change Healthcare affected healthcare organizations across the country as revenue flow was crippled. But what has healthcare learned from the incident?

Ascension hospitals across the country continued to deal with the fallout of a "cybersecurity event" May 9 involving its St. Louis-based parent system.