NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — We all want to be sure our personal information remains safe, especially among groups that collect a lot of it, like the healthcare industry.
That's why we're letting you know about a cyberattack impacting a big health system that runs two major hospitals in Nashville.
Ascension says they'll be dealing with the impact of this cybersecurity attack for "some time."
They say it's impacting the system doctors use to electronically look at medical records, causing them to pause some non-essential medical procedures, tests, and appointments.
Ascension, which operates both St. Thomas West and Midtown hospitals in Nashville says they started noticing the cyberattack on Wednesday.
They say if you do have an appointment, bring your own notes of your symptoms, along with a list of your current prescriptions and prescription numbers.
Retired FBI agent and cybersecurity expert Scott Augenbaum says healthcare is one of the top targets for cyber thieves because they collect so much personal information like names, dates of birth, and social security numbers.
He says nationwide, hospitals and other healthcare industry groups lose billions of dollars because they don't practice what Scott calls good cyber hygiene.
"If you're a healthcare organization and you do not have at least a 12-character password in place, you are putting your patients' information at risk," Scott said. "Even with having a longer password but not having something like 2-factor authentication, cybercriminals are going to steal your username and password, that two-factor authentication is going to protect so much patient information."
Ascension says it thanks all its patients for their patience as they work to get systems back online. You can read Ascension's full statement here.
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