A May ransomware assault on Ascension, a U.S. healthcare large with greater than 140 hospitals and dozens of senior residing amenities, allowed hackers to steal private and delicate well being info on 5.6 million sufferers, in response to a brand new submitting with Maine’s lawyer normal. The cyberattack prompted widespread disruption throughout its hospital system, with some workers describing harrowing lapses in healthcare in consequence, together with delayed or misplaced lab outcomes, and medicine errors.
The Black Basta gang was blamed for the assault, which noticed the group steal sufferers’ medical info, like dates of service, lab checks, and process codes; fee info, similar to bank card and checking account numbers; and reams of private info, together with affected person names, addresses, and dates of start. The hackers additionally stole sufferers’ identification paperwork, like driving licenses and passports. According to the Dept. of Health and Human Services’ checklist of knowledge breach investigations, the Ascension hack ranks because the third-largest healthcare-related breach of 2024.
