The health care industry has been on the front lines a lot lately. Along with helping control the effects of COVID-19, it has been a prime target for ransomware. In a 2021 survey conducted of 597 health delivery organizations (HDOs), 42% had faced two ransomware attacks in the past couple of years. Over a third (36%) attributed those ransomware incidents to a third party, such as what happened earlier this year with Kaseya. The effects go beyond stolen health care data, although that is important, too. What does it mean when a health care organization faces an attack? And what can they do to protect themselves?
Health Care Data Directly Affects Patients
Those attacks diminished many HDOs’ confidence in their ability to address the risks of ransomware. More than half (61%) said they weren’t confident in their ransomware defenses following the events of 2020, for instance. That’s up from 55% a year earlier.
After all, ransomware attacks undermine health care organizations’ mission of providing their patients with timely care. Consider the following findings from the Ponemon study:
Nearly three-quarters (71%) of respondents reported that a successful cyber attack had resulted in longer stay lengths for patients
About the same proportion said that ransomware attacks had created delays in medical procedures and tests that resulted in poor outcomes for patients who needed them
Slightly fewer (65%) said that the attacks had yielded an increase in the number of patients diverted to or transferred to other facilities
More than a quarter (36%) of respondents had witnessed an increase in complications from medical procedures following a ransomware attack
About a fifth said cybe ..
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