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Health care giant Ascension says 5.6 million patients affected in cyberattack

Intrusion caused medical errors and diversion of emergency services.

ARS TECHNICA – Health care company Ascension lost sensitive data for nearly 5.6 million individuals in a cyberattack that was attributed to a notorious ransomware gang, according to documents filed with the attorney general of Maine.

Ascension owns 140 hospitals and scores of assisted living facilities.

In May, the organization was hit with an attack that caused mass disruptions as staff was forced to move to manual processes that caused errors, delayed or lost lab results, and diversions of ambulances to other hospitals.

Ascension managed to restore most services by mid-June.

Data stolen depended on the particular person but included:

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  • individuals’ names and medical information (e.g., medical record numbers, dates of service, types of lab tests, or procedure codes),
  • payment information (e.g., credit card information or bank account numbers),
  • insurance information (e.g., Medicaid/Medicare ID, policy number, or insurance claim),
  • government identification (e.g., Social Security numbers, tax identification numbers, driver’s license numbers, or passport numbers),
  • and other personal information (such as date of birth or address).

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