A cyberattack forces a big US health system to divert ambulances and take records offline

By JOHN HANNA, TOM MURPHY and KATHLEEN FOODY
Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A cyberattack on the Ascension health system operating in 19 states across the U.S. forced some of its 140 hospitals to divert ambulances, caused patients to postpone medical tests and blocked online access to patient records. A spokesperson for Ascension says it detected what it called unusual activity Wednesday on its computer network systems. Officials refused to say whether the non-profit Catholic health care system headquartered in St. Louis was the victim of a ransomware attack, though the attack had the hallmarks of one. News reports from Wichita, Kansas, and Pensacola, Florida, said ambulances had been diverted from Ascension hospitals. In Milwaukee, WTMJ-TV reported patients missed CT scans and mammograms.