News and Analysis

Ascension Health warned that the personal data of its patients and staff were compromised during a ransomware attack in May that impacted around 5.6 million people. The incident also significantly disrupted Ascension’s operations, causing ambulances to be diverted and pharmacies to close, as vital IT systems were taken offline. A lack of comprehensive digital data protection law in the US makes the healthcare sector particularly vulnerable to such attacks, the growing scale of which was emphasised in a recent Congressional Research Service report.