A survey conducted by Ponemon and sponsored by Proofpoint found that ransomware attacks have the most adverse effects on patient care when compared with business email compromise (BEC) attacks, cloud compromises, and supply chain attacks. The survey comprises responses from 641 IT experts working in the healthcare sector. Nearly 90 percent say that their organizations have experienced a cyberattack within the past year; two-thirds of organizations reporting having been targeted by ransomware said that the incidents disrupted patient care.
Note
- Healthcare has tremendous pressure to implement the latest technology to aid patient care. And when that technology, or supporting systems are offline, the patients are directly impacted. It is easier to start with security practices than retrofit running production systems, and this is the challenge many of us face, not only in healthcare. If you’re having trouble building management support to retrofit or otherwise raise the bar, make sure that you’re sharing how compromise directly impacts customers. While death may not be a consequence, having your business transferred to your competition or worse a loss of reputation, should resonate.
Read more in
- Cyber Insecurity in Healthcare: The Cost and Impact of Patient Safety and Care (PDF)
- Health care IT workers report increased cyberattacks affecting patient care
- How Healthcare Cyberattacks Can Impact Patient Safety, Care Delivery
- The cyberattack with the most negative impact to patient care: ransomware
