SEDGWICK COUNTY —Ascension hospitals in Wichita are investigating a cyberattack.
On Wednesday, officials with Ascension Via Christi, 929 North Saint Francis Street in Wichita detected unusual activity on select technology network systems, which officials now believe is due to a cyber security event, according to a media release from the hospital.
Authorities continue to investigate the situation. Hospital officials responded immediately, initiated their investigation and activated remediation efforts. Access to some systems have been interrupted as this process continues.
The hospital care teams are trained for these kinds of disruptions and have initiated procedures to ensure patient care delivery continues to be safe and as minimally impacted as possible, according to the release. There has been a disruption to clinical operations, and hospital staff continues to assess the impact and duration of the disruption.
Ascension has engaged Mandiant, a third party expert, to assist in the investigation and remediation process, and have notified the appropriate authorities. Together, the hospital staff is working to fully investigate what information, if any, may have been affected by the situation.
"Should we determine that any sensitive information was affected, we will notify and support those individuals in accordance with all relevant regulatory and legal guidelines.":
Out of an abundance of caution the hospital is recommending that business partners temporarily suspend the connection to the Ascension environment. The hospital will inform partners when it is appropriate to reconnect into the hospital environment.