A health system with numerous hospitals and clinics in Wisconsin is investigating a cyber attack that interrupted access to some technology systems. But it’s unclear whether hackers gained access to sensitive patient information.
The St. Louis-based Ascension said it detected “unusual activity” on some network systems Wednesday that it believes was caused by a “cyber security event.”
Ascension said it is working to uncover what information may have been affected by the breach. If sensitive information was exposed, Ascension said it will notify people affected.
Alex Holden is the chief information security officer at Hold Security, a Mequon-based cyber security firm. Based on Ascension’s public statements about the breach, he said it looks like the attack wasn’t a “full intrusion” into their network.
“They’re also encouraging their partners to break technology connections into Ascension for the time being,” he said. “There seems to be either exploitation that came from a certain party into them, or there is a threat that the breach is not fully contained — and it may affect their partners as well.”
Last year, a cyber attack caused a system-wide outage for Hospital Sisters Health System and Prevea. In early 2024, Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, a nonprofit managed health care organization, also suffered a cyber attack that resulted in patients’ personal information being released.
According to the New York Times, hospital systems have increasingly been targets for hackers in recent years. The Times reports that health care is one of the economic sectors most susceptible to cyber attacks because medical records can be sold for a lot of money.