Security News > 2024 > May > Ascension healthcare takes systems offline after cyberattack
Ascension, one of the largest private healthcare systems in the United States, has taken some of its systems offline to investigate what it describes as a "Cyber security event."
As a major U.S. nonprofit health system, Ascension operates 140 hospitals and 40 senior care facilities across 19 states and the District of Columbia.
"On Wednesday, May 8, we detected unusual activity on select technology network systems, which we now believe is due to a cyber security event," Ascension said.
The healthcare organization also advised business partners to sever connections to its systems until told otherwise.
"Out of an abundance of caution we are recommending that business partners temporarily suspend the connection to the Ascension environment. We will inform partners when it is appropriate to reconnect into our environment," the nonprofit added.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services warned that threat actors are now using social engineering tactics to target IT help desks in the Healthcare and Public Health sector.