Ransomware attack forces Ascension hospitals to turn away some ambulances

PR Newswire

A ransomware attack has forced hospital group Ascension's computer systems offline and diverted ambulances away from some of its emergency departments, including one in the Chicago area.

The hospital group that operates Ascension Resurrection in Chicago, St. Alexius in Hoffman Estates and Alexian Brothers in Elk Grove Village said it was a victim of a “cybersecurity event” after noticing "unusual activity" on its computer network on Wednesday.

It confirmed Saturday that it is recovering from a ransomware attack and is working with cybersecurity experts and the FBI. Ascension did not say when its computer systems would be restored.

The sprawling St. Louis-based hospital group operates 140 hospitals in 19 states. In Illinois, Ascension runs 15 hospitals and 230 sites of care.

Ascension said its facilities remain open but that several hospitals are turning away ambulances and diverting them to other hospitals "to ensure emergency cases are triaged immediately."

An Ascension spokeswoman said Alexian Brothers went on ambulance diversion from 5 p.m. Wednesday to 7 a.m. Thursday as a result of the attack. Resurrection and St. Alexius hospitals were not affected, she said.

The attack took down Ascension's electronic health records system and the system it uses to order tests, procedures and medications, the hospital group said. Staff have reverted to using paper records and "processing everything by hand."

Ascension did not say who was behind the attack. But CNN reported the ransomware used in the hack is known as Black Basta, which has been used in attacks on health care organizations. Black Basta is also the name of a Russian-connected criminal group that uses ransomware.