CHICAGO (CBS)
The Ascension health care network announced Wednesday that its clinical operations have been disrupted by a cyberattack.
In a news release, Ascension said it responded immediately, and access to some systems has been interrupted with remediation efforts in progress.
"Our care teams are trained for these kinds of disruptions and have initiated procedures to ensure patient care delivery continues to be safe and as minimally impacted as possible," Ascension said in a news release. "There has been a disruption to clinical operations, and we continue to assess the impact and duration of the disruption."
Ascension said it has brought in the cybersecurity firm Mandiant Solutions to help investigate, and has notified authorities.
"Together, we are working to fully investigate what information, if any, may have been affected by the situation," Ascension said. "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."
Ascension did advise that business partners temporarily suspend their connection to the Ascension system.
Ascension is one of the nation's leading nonprofit and Catholic health systems.
Ascension Illinois currently manages a network of 14 hospitals across the Chicago area. Some of the prominent hospitals in this network include Ascension Holy Family in Des Plaines, Ascension Alexian Brothers Medical Center and Behavioral Health Hospital in Elk Grove Village, Ascension St. Alexius in Hoffman Estates, Ascension St. Mary and St. Elizabeth in West Town, Ascension St. Joseph in East Lakeview, Ascension St. Francis in Evanston, and Ascension Resurrection in Norwood Park.
These hospitals were previously part of the AMITA partnership between Ascension and AdventHealth before the partnership dissolved two years ago.
In a separate incident, Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago recently experienced a significant cyberattack. The hospital was forced to shut down its phone, email, and other systems, leading to several weeks of disruptions in their regular operations.
