What is the State of Cybersecurity in the Healthcare Industry? A Brief Overview 

A ransomware attack on a health facility is literally a matter of life and death. Health facilities are particularly vulnerable and the prime targets for attackers who use ransomware to steal, encrypt and hold data for ransom, due to an abundance of sensitive patient information. When a medical facility is hit by a ransomware attack, they are forced to take their computer systems offline in an effort to stop the spread of the attack, which can ultimately lead to lapses in patient care. And if the attack is successful, the damage is even worse.     

In 2020, healthcare systems all over the globe were already painfully dealing with the outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the actions of cybercriminals only added insult to injury. FBI findings revealed that these malicious software attacks spiked in 2020 and the Conti ransomware tool executed at least 16 attacks on healthcare in the US alone, demanding as high as $25 million in ransom in some cases. Read on to learn more about ransomware attacks in healthcare, some recent incidents, statistics, and mitigation strategies. 

Some Recent Facts About Ransomware Attacks in Healthcare: 

Every typical health organization collects data about their patients including names, addresses, social security numbers, symptoms of disease, dates of admission into the clinic, discharge date, passport photos, previous health record, a record of ongoing treatment, and cardholder data. All this information is extremely sensitive and valuable and if it goes into the wrong hands, it will cause massive disruption to the healthcare facility.        

The cybercriminals are always trying to gain entry routes into IT systems of the healthcare and lock down computers and servers with malware. A report of 2021 revealed that nearly 34% of surveyed healthcare organizations were hit by ransomware in the last year and among those who were attacked, 34% paid the ransom to get their information or systems back. Another report found that the total cost of ransomware attacks on healthcare organizations was $20.8 billion in 2020.

Recent High-Profile Ransomware Attacks on Healthcare Organizations:   

The world has noticed innumerable high-profile ransomware attacks on healthcare organizations over the last 12 months. And these hackers didn’t distinguish between public and private health facilities - rather they targeted every type of health organization. For instance, Universal Health Services (UHS) was attacked by Ryuk ransomware (a type of ransomware known for targeting large, public-entity) last September.    

UHS operates 400 medical facilities in the US, the UK, and other countries around the globe. Fortunately, not all health facilities fell victim to this attack, the attack hit only UHS facilities in several US states. The systems and telephone of the facilities were affected and the staff was helpless to work without IT. Naturally, working the old-fashioned way caused major interference in the usual workflow of the clinic; affecting patient care, lab tests, and much more.   

Another ransom attack hit Düsseldorf University Clinic in Germany that crippled their server and encrypted sensitive data. As the hospital’s system went down, many patients who were seeking emergency treatment had to be moved to a hospital a few miles away and some of them couldn't reach the hospital because of their critical conditions.   

Similarly, PBS Newshour reported that a ransomware attack (carried out in September) paralyzed a chain of more than 250 hospitals and clinics in the US. That attack delayed emergency treatments and forced medical staff to restore heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen level monitors with ethernet cabling. The ransomware attacks in only the last few years were thousands in numbers but we have mentioned only a few of them in this article.  

How to Stay One Step Ahead of the Attackers to Mitigate Ransom Attacks?   

Malware can attack your system in many ways; through emails, phishing links, infected websites, and many more. Through these attacking ways, cybercriminals can steal remote-access credentials, coax them out through social engineering, or simply use brute force. And we are expecting these criminals will continue their activities to cash in on the strained healthcare systems amid the pandemic. Therefore, in times like these, prevention is better than cure. Here are some of the best practices that can help your healthcare prevent a ransomware attack and enhance your overall cybersecurity at the same time.  

Back-Up Your Data Regularly: 

Some people believe backing up data is of no use in a world where threat actors try to steal sensitive information before locking down systems. However, if you are backing up your data regularly, you will be in a better position in the event of a ransomware attack. You will be able to rebuild your systems with the help of backed-up data.   

Keep Your System Up-to-date:   

It is better to keep your all software and hardware assets updated if you wish to save yourself from ransomware attacks. And this means not only your computers and laptops, but smartphones, tablets, terminals, information kiosks, medical equipment, and absolutely anything else with access to the corporate network and the Internet.      

Protect all Devices:  

You need to use strong passwords for all of your company devices because using weak or easy to guess passwords can enable malicious actors to gain unauthorized access to one or more of your online accounts and launch a ransomware attack on your organization.

Ransomware Awareness Training of Your Employees:

The people within your organization, if not trained for ransomware attacks, are often your biggest security risk. Therefore, out of necessity, there has been a huge trend in organizations to train their users about the risks they face using the internet at work and at home. These trainings help them understand what threats within email look like, and best security practices they should follow to stop ransomware.

The Bottom Line:

If you want to make your healthcare completely impenetrable, you can hire our services. We will help the protect your healthcare facility from ransomware attacks so that you can keep your patient's sensitive data intact. Additionally, in case of any misfortune, we will provide you full recovery of your data and your system will be ready to operate again within three hours.