Ascension Details

Ascension

St. Louis, MO • 142000 employees • Health Care and Social Assistance

Industry

Health Care and Social Assistance

Security Incidents

Ascension is one of the largest private healthcare systems in the United States, ranking second in the United States by number of hospitals as of 2019. It was founded as a nonprofit Catholic healthcare network in 1999. Ascension also runs a pharmacy system as well as delivery under AscensionRx.

Security Incidents

Ascension Breach of May 2024

Severity Score

Significant to High

Type

Other

Summary

The Ascension health system, which manages 140 hospitals across 19 states, experienced a significant cyberattack that was discovered on a Wednesday. This breach led to the shutdown of their electronic health records (EHR) and patient portals, causing notable disruptions like the diversion of ambulances and numerous missed appointments due to inaccessible medical records. Investigation revealed that the incident stemmed from an employee inadvertently downloading a malicious file. The attack impacted critical systems, including MyChart, phone lines, and those for ordering tests and procedures, f...
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Severity

The cyberattack on Ascension, the nation's largest Catholic health system, was highly impactful. Sophisticated ransomware, identified as Black Basta, managed to disrupt technological systems across 140 hospitals, which led to the postponement of elective procedures and rerouting of ambulances. Although initial investigations suggest only a small number of file servers were breached—potentially exposing PHI and PII—and not the core Electronic Health Records, the attack significantly compromised healthcare delivery and patient trust. Given the scope of disruption, the sophistication of the ranso...
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Impact

The recent cyberattack on Ascension, the nation's largest Catholic health system, resulted in a significant disruption of their technological infrastructure across all 140 hospitals. This incident, which likely involved Black Basta ransomware, forced the postponement of elective procedures, tests, and appointments due to the paralyzation of key systems like electronic health records and patient portals. While attackers managed to exfiltrate data from a small number of file servers, potentially affecting some Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII), ther...
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