April 7, 2026, 2:47 p.m. ET
BROCKTON — Brockton Hospital is turning away ambulances on Tuesday, April 7, among other steps as it recovers from a cybersecurity incident.
The Signature Healthcare facility is still doing surgeries and procedures like endoscopies, hospital spokespersons announced. Inpatient and walk-in emergency services are also still open.
Chemotherapy infusion cancer treatments are cancelled for April 7. The hospital asks that patients call Greene Cancer Center to reschedule. The number is 844-604-4673.
Signature Healthcare’s retail pharmacies at 110 Liberty St. in Brockton and 1 Donalds Way in East Bridgewater are closed for April 7.
Signature’s urgent care and ambulatory physician practices remain open, but patients may encounter delays.
The hospital noticed “suspicious activity” in part of its network on Monday, April 6, representatives said in a public statement. They moved temporarily to pen-and-paper documentation instead of electronic medical record systems.
“We are working with outside resources to help us investigate the incident and restore operations as quickly as possible,” the hospital’s statement said.
Ransomware, data breach or something else?
The statement did not indicate which type of cybersecurity incident took place. Hospitals and health care are a frequent target for “ransomware” attacks. That’s when hackers break in or trick employees into letting them in with the goal of locking up critical data until the target pays a ransom. The most recent FBI data showed health care suffered 238 ransomware attacks in 2024.
For understandable reasons, organizations tend not to disclose whether or not they paid a ransom. One well-known exception came in 2016, when the CEO of Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center admitted paying hackers about $17,000 in cryptocurrency to unlock critical systems.
Data breaches, which can expose sensitive patient data, are another common type of attack. The health care sector reported 206 such incidents in 2024.
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