Massachusetts hospitals Heywood, Athol say outage was a cybersecurity incident

Heywood Hospital in Gardner and Athol Hospital in Athol, Massachusetts, said a recent network outage was caused by a cybersecurity incident, with affected systems taken offline and a third-party cybersecurity firm engaged to assist, according to DataBreaches[.]Net. The facilities remained open and caring for patients, though they enacted a Code Black ambulance diversion earlier in the week after phones and internet were disrupted. Officials have not specified the attack type or whether any data was accessed.

The hospitals’ public posts note that communications remain spotty as recovery continues, and they urged patients to use available portals or the answering service if needed. Heywood Hospital’s Facebook post confirmed the incident and the ongoing downtime measures while emphasising that protection of patient safety and trust remains a top priority.