Cyber Attack Rocks Clinical Operations At Ascention Hospital

JAKARTA - Hospital operator Assignment reported disruption to its clinical operations on Wednesday, May 8 due to a cybersecurity incident. They even advise business partners to temporarily cut ties to their systems.

Earlier this year, UnitedHealth (UNH.N), the United States' largest health insurance company, reported a Cyberattack on its technology unit - one of the worst attacks ever to occur in the American health sector - causing widespread disruption in payments to doctors and health facilities.

"With full caution we recommend that business partners temporarily suspend connections to the Ascention environment," the health service network said in a statement.

Assignment states that they continue to investigate the situation after detecting unusual activity on certain technological network systems. Access to some systems has been disrupted during the assessment process of the impact and duration of the disturbances continuing, Ascention added.

Ascention has started a process to ensure patient care remains safe and affected slightly, the nonprofit said.

Ascention also said that it had involved third-party expert Mandiant to assist in the investigation and repair process and had notified appropriate authorities.

Established as a Catholic nonprofit organization in 1999, the network covered about 134,000 employees, 35,000 affiliated providers, and 140 hospitals, serving 19 states and the District of Columbia.