Healthcare Organizations Impacted by Ransomware

Ransomware gangs are increasing their focus on hospitals largely because of the intense pressure to meet ransomware demands. Check Point Research warns healthcare organizations to stay on high-alert as we close out the year and enter the holiday season, and hackers tend to strike during off-hours when security is perceived to be lighter. CPR also shares global statistics for overall cyberattacks and by region, where education/research and Asia were top targets for overall cyberattacks.

Out of various sectors, the Check Point research says, Education/Research was most attacked by overall cyberattacks in Q3, with an average of 2,148 attacks per organization every week, an increase of 18% compared to the third quarter of 2021.

Asia experienced the highest volume of cyberattacks with 1778 weekly attacks per organization on average 28% increase in global cyberattacks compared to the same period in 2021. India saw 1,783 average attacks per organisation in Q3 2022, the same as last year

The new cyberattack data speaks on how the healthcare sector was the most targeted industry in terms of ransomware in the third quarter of 2022, with one in 42 organizations impacted by ransomware, a 5% increase YoY.

The Top Sectors Impacted by Ransomware are:

# Healthcare where 1 in 42 organizations impacted by ransomware with a 5% YoY increase

# Internet Service Provider/Managed Service Provider where 1 in 43 organizations was impacted with a 25% YoY decrease

# Finance/Banking where 1 out of every 49 organizations was affected by ransomware with a 17% increase in the past year.

# Retail/Wholesale sector has seen the highest increase YoY of ransomware attacks, a 4.39% increase from the third quarter of 2021.

Experts say, Ransomware gangs continue to focus their efforts on targeting hospitals, largely because of intense pressure for these organizations to respond fast. A ransomware attack on a hospital can lead to potentially catastrophic consequences, such as delayed surgeries, hold ups in patient care and rescheduled doctor appointments.

Even if an attack doesn’t shut a hospital down, it can knock some or all digital systems offline, cutting doctors’ and nurses’ access to digital information like patient records and recommendations for care.

Going forward, Hospital organizations should keep their programs up-to-date, only download items from known sources, and constantly back-up their data. As we begin to close out the year and enter the holidays, hospitals should stay on high-alert, as ransomware gangs love to strike during this period as staff begin to take time off.

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA