Crippling cyberattacks against hospitals and healthcare institutions are on the rise. This year, there’s been a sharp uptake in cybergangs stealing confidential patient data by launching ransomware attacks. These ruthless attacks can take medical systems offline for weeks, resulting in thousands of cancelled appointments, surgeries and causing harm to patients. Doctors and nurses are also plunged into crises as they are suddenly locked out of online patient records, resorting to filing paperwork manually. Phone systems go down, while IT staff work tirelessly to bring services safely back online. The recovery can be long-lasting and brutal.
It doesn’t take long to see how ransomware can have a dangerous impact on the healthcare sector. The industry is being increasingly targeted because of the valuable data it holds. Cybercriminal gangs such as Qilin, the Russian-speaking cybergang behind the recent Synnovis attack, stole data and following unsuccessful negotiations, listed it on the dark web. The gang demanded upward of $50 million from Synnovis as a threat to not release the data. But even if a cyber gang is unsuccessful in receiving a ransom, a successful attack further grows their notoriety.
