Tom has covered numerous cybersecurity topics whilst working as a writer.
Over the last two years, 45% of healthcare organizations experienced a data breach.
High-Profile Incidents
There have been several high-profile cyberattacks in the healthcare industry.
TheSafety Detectivescybersecurity team, led by Anurag Sen, found iSofHs server in open form, exposing 80,000 people.
The Anthem cyberattack affected a staggering 78.8 million people.
The breach was triggered by a phishing attack.
On February 18th, an Anthem employee opened a phishing email that infected the users computer with malicious files.
The hacker is thought to be a nation-state hacker, acting on the behalf of a foreign government.
Healthcare companies may also have to pay damages to affected individuals.
If a company has handled customer data carelessly, data protection legislation could also enforce a hefty fine.
Cyberattacks can have an organizational impact on healthcare companies as well.
Healthcare brands are built on the image of safety and protection.
By putting customers at risk,healthcare companies can suffer reputational damage, decreasing trust among customers.
Cyberattacks can lead to a reduction in productivity, too.
Ransom attacks and data leaks could force hospitals to close or prevent the use of medical technology.
This leads to financial damages for the company and potential health impacts for patients.
Healthcare cyberattacks can cause significant damage to people, their finances, and their physical and mental well-being.
All of the largest healthcare data breaches involve patient data, withmore than 175.1 million people affected overall.
But this only represents a part of the total number of files leaked.
Cyberattacks Are Damaging
In 2022, 49.6 million Americans were affected by healthcare data breaches.
If online data breaches are so impactful, how does this impact translate into monetary damage?
Thats right a healthcare data breach costs a whopping $10.10 million on average.
However, Im sure this is a table no one wants to be leading.
In 2021, a report from SecurityScorecard ranked various industries by their proficiency in cybersecurity.
The healthcare industry ranked 9th relative to other industries.
Its a cyber-arms race, and only time will tell how effective the industrys new measures will be.
The national cybersecurity index measures a nations cybersecurity level, preparedness for cyberattacks, and response to cyber incidents.
The entire country was targeted, leading to the disruption of essential services, including healthcare and revenue collection.
The attack paralyzed Costa Ricas public health service by shutting down its computer systems.
Consequently, the effects of the attack persisted for several months as the servers remained locked.
Costa Rica received assistance from Microsoft and various governments in a collaborative effort to restore their services.
The United Kingdoms National Health System (NHS) has also fallen victim to cyber threats.
These messages were sent from compromised email accounts belonging to 139 employees in England and Scotland.
The challenges healthcare providers face today are numerous.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a diversion of resources from cybersecurity to immediate patient care.
This led to healthcare providers bearing the brunt of the highest number of cyberattacks globally in 2022.
Cybersecurity Risks in the Healthcare Industry
Weve covered the latest trends in healthcare cybersecurity for 2025.
How Much Is Healthcare Targeted?
The healthcare sector remains a primary focus for cyberattacks.
In 2022, a staggering 70% of all recorded data breaches pertained to this industry.
Wandera, a company that provides businesses with cloud security solutions, published findings from months of research.
Wanderas report evaluated data on tens of thousands of users in a vast global database of healthcare organizations.
Wanderas research outlines two different types of man-in-the-middle attacks as particularly troublesome.
Statistics suggest that around 61% of healthcare organizations pay a ransom to retrieve stolen data.
Elsewhere, hackers can also capture hospital systems using DDoS attacks.
Distributed denial-of-service attacks target weak operating systems or old devices.
In 2022, there was a 150% increase in DDoS attacks worldwide compared to the previous year.
Common Cybercrimes
Criminals can carry out all manner of fraudulent and criminal activities with sensitive personal data.
One of the most common crimes victims can experience is long-term identity theft and fraud.
Tax fraud and home equity fraud are two more avenues criminals may choose to take.
Criminals can also leverage details about a patients disease or terminal illness to conduct scams specific to their condition.
This could include selling a miracle at-home cure, which is particularly cruel.
There is the issue of medical identity theft and fraud, too.
Medical devices are also at the mercy of criminals.
Healthcare providers must pay the ransom or risk patients dying without adequate healthcare support.
Medical devices are not designed to deal with the modern threat that hackers present.
IoT devices which are prevalent in medical configs are also vulnerable to cyberattacks.
We talk about these in-depth further down the page.
One way in which scammers will attempt to con victims is through the offer of health and medical products.
They could target victims based on their medical history.
Generally, medical product scams are split into two categories: fake online pharmacies and miracle cures.
In afake online pharmacyscam, the criminal will trick victims into paying for medical products.
Of course, the offer is not from a legitimate pharmaceutical company.
Customers will either receive bogus medications that do not work or nothing at all.
These scams prey on vulnerable people in desperate situations.
They may even claim that their product cures all ailments, which is not possible.
Thats why its so valuable to cybercriminals.
But there are big risks involved for the healthcare institutions, too.
Breaches can cripple the operations of a healthcare institution.
IoTs effectiveness has led to its widespread use throughout healthcare organizations.
However, opportunistic cybercriminals are now beginning to realize that IoT devices are particularly vulnerable.
These devices are connected to the internet, and they provide a link to medical records and sensitive data.
Overall, IoT has a negative impact on the total cost of a data breach.
In September 2020, the Hospital of Dusseldorf University experienced a deadly cyber attack.
Cybercriminals deployed ransomware, compromising the hospitals servers and causing significant disruptions.
Surgeries, medical examinations, and chemotherapies were postponed, while emergency patients had to be redirected.
Tragically, a female patient sent to a hospital 35 km away died due to the delayed treatment.
Verizon reported a 58% rise in confirmed data breaches within the healthcare sector during 2020.
This highlights the need for stronger and more adaptable cybersecurity measures.
During this period, several types of cybercrime grew in prevalence, leveraging the unique conditions of the pandemic.
Phishing scams targeting COVID-related information became increasingly widespread.
These scams predominantly involved email phishing attacks, specifically targeting healthcare staff who were working from home.
In April 2020, Google reported blocking approximately 18 million malware and phishing emails associated with COVID-19.
Cybercriminals targeted large health corporations to breach their systems and gain access to valuable data.
The shift to remote work opened other avenues for hackers to steal data and access sensitive information.
Companies using video-conferencing tools like Zoom saw their streams hacked or login details monitored.
Hackers exploited this opportunity to listen in on meetings and learn about the companys operations.
Employee portals and company websites were also tracked.
High-profile breaches were reported worldwide.
Approximately 85% of track-and-trace apps and71% of healthcare and medical apps exhibited major vulnerabilities.
Hackers targeted the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and stole data related to Pfizers vaccine candidate.
While the breach caused concern, it did not significantly damage Pfizer.
The exposed data included initials, dates of birth, geographical residences, and gender details of COVID-19-positive patients.
The breach lasted for 20 hours before being taken down.
The exposed information included patient addresses, IDs, healthcare records, medical histories, and medication plans.
The data was discovered by a GitHub user and subsequently removed.
Programmers discovered a vulnerability in Germanys COVID-19 track-and-trace app.
The pandemic fueled trends like ransomware, DDoS attacks, and phishing attempts exploiting social vulnerabilities.
Advanced malware forms emerged, including mobile malware circumventing two-factor authentication.
Online fraud surged with increased online shopping, and criminals continued exploiting legitimate services like VPNs and cryptocurrencies.
Organizations that fully deploy security automation save on average $3.05 million compared to companies that do not.
So, how do healthcare providers improve their cybersecurity?
Here are 4 key tips to safeguard from cyberattacks.
