Ransomware attack on health giant Ascension hits 5.6 million patients


A May ransomware attack on Ascension, a U.S. healthcare giant with more than 140 hospitals and dozens of senior living facilities, allowed hackers to steal personal and sensitive health information on 5.6 million patients, according to a new filing with Maine’s attorney general.

The cyberattack caused widespread disruption across its hospital system, with some staff describing harrowing lapses in healthcare as a result, including delayed or lost lab results, and medication errors. The Black Basta gang was blamed for the attack, which saw the group steal patients’ medical information, like dates of service, lab tests, and procedure codes; payment information, such as credit card and bank account numbers.

Read more…
Source: TechCrunch News


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • New Jersey health system agrees to pay $4.5M in data breach settlement

    February 3, 2026

    Capital Health, a health care provider with multiple locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, will pay $4.5 million as part of a settlement over a 2023 data breach that compromised the private information of patients, former patients and employees. In a statement, the company said the stolen information included names, addresses, social security numbers, dates of ...

  • Russian ransomware hackers allegedly hit Tulsa airport in cyberattack, dump private files online as proof

    February 2, 2026

    Russian ransomware operators Qilin have claimed to have broken into the Tulsa International Airport and stolen an unspecified amount of sensitive company data. A report from Cybernews says the group recently added the airport to their data leak site, and included 18 samples as proof of their claims. The researchers analyzed the samples, finding it included ...

  • Oregon residents health data stolen in TriZetto breach

    January 31, 2026

    Thousands more Oregonians will soon receive data breach letters in the continued fallout from the TriZetto data breach, in which someone hacked the insurance verification provider and gained access to its healthcare provider customers across multiple US states. The breach occurred back in November 2024, with intruders snooping through protected health information and other sensitive personal ...

  • Informant told FBI that Jeffrey Epstein had a ‘personal hacker’

    January 30, 2026

    A confidential informant told the FBI in 2017 that Jeffrey Epstein had a “personal hacker,” according to a document released by the Department of Justice on Friday. The document, which was released as part of the Justice Department’s legally required effort to publish documents related to its investigation into the late sex offender, does not identify ...

  • Trump’s acting cyber chief uploaded sensitive files into a public version of ChatGPT

    January 27, 2026

    The interim head of the country’s cyber defense agency uploaded sensitive contracting documents into a public version of ChatGPT last summer, triggering multiple automated security warnings that are meant to stop the theft or unintentional disclosure of government material from federal networks, according to four Department of Homeland Security officials with knowledge of the incident. The ...

  • Microsoft gave FBI a set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects’ laptops

    January 23, 2026

    Microsoft provided the FBI with the recovery keys to unlock encrypted data on the hard drives of three laptops as part of a federal investigation, Forbes reported on Friday. Many modern Windows computers rely on full-disk encryption, called BitLocker, which is enabled by default. This type of technology should prevent anyone except the device owner from ...