A Ponemon Institute survey revealed that over 20% of healthcare providers reported increased patient mortality following a cyber breach. This makes ransomware in healthcare not just a financial issue but a public safety crisis.
Unfortunately, these are not isolated incidents. Ascella Infosec found that, on average, one in 29 healthcare organizations globally was impacted by ransomware in 2023. In fact, the healthcare sector saw a 78% year-on-year increase in cyberattacks in 2022, with 1,426 attempted breaches per week per organization.
Why Cybercriminals Target Healthcare
Cybercriminals see healthcare organizations as high-value, low-preparedness targets. There are three main reasons:
- High-Value Data – Medical records are rich with personal, financial, and health information that can be sold, exploited for fraud, or held for ransom.
- Operational Pressure – Hospitals under attack face immense pressure to pay ransom quickly because disruptions can cost lives.
- Guaranteed Visibility – Attacks on hospitals generate massive media coverage, boosting notoriety for threat actors.
On top of this, hospitals face structural vulnerabilities:
- Legacy systems blended with new technologies, many of which lack proper documentation or security controls.
- Medical devices and IoT systems that are often not designed with cybersecurity in mind.
- A cybersecurity skills shortage in healthcare, leaving critical systems understaffed and under-protected.
All of this creates a large attack surface, making hospitals prime targets.
The Patient Impact: More Than Just Data Loss
When healthcare cybersecurity fails, the consequences go beyond IT disruption:
- Physical health risks – Delayed surgeries, misdiagnoses, or treatment failures due to inaccessible data.
- Emotional and social impact – Patients may experience stress, anxiety, or mistrust if their data is leaked.
- Financial harm – Identity theft, insurance fraud, and misuse of medical benefits.
For example, after One Brooklyn Health suffered a breach, patients filed lawsuits claiming they faced increased risk of fraud, identity theft, and health insurance misuse.
3 Critical Steps to Prevent Cyberattacks in Healthcare
To safeguard patient care, healthcare organizations must adopt a prevention-first cybersecurity approach. Here are three critical actions:
1. Build a Cybersecurity Culture
Cybersecurity must become as integral as hygiene in hospitals. Every staff member, from doctors to administrators, should understand how their actions impact patient safety. Regular cybersecurity awareness training helps reduce phishing risks, misconfigurations, and insider errors.
2. Strengthen Endpoint Protection
Healthcare staff rely on multiple devices to access and transmit electronic health records. Even medical devices themselves can transmit sensitive data. A multi-layered endpoint security strategy should include:
- Anti-phishing
- Anti-ransomware
- Anti-bot protection
- Content disarm and reconstruction (CDR)
- Automated detection and response
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provides clear guidelines on safeguarding electronic protected health information (ePHI).
3. Enforce Zero Trust Access Control
Implementing a Zero Trust model ensures least-privilege access across systems. This limits exposure by ensuring that every user, device, and application only has access to what they absolutely need. By cutting back on unnecessary access, healthcare organizations reduce the likelihood of unauthorized entry.
A Collaborative Path Forward
Despite the challenges, healthcare CISOs express strong commitment to “securing the health of everyone, everywhere.” Encouragingly, the sector has a culture of collaboration, where best practices and lessons learned are widely shared. This mindset is crucial as the industry prepares for increasingly sophisticated attacks.
The reality is clear: ransomware in healthcare directly impacts patient safety. Just as the five rights of medication (right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, right time) ensure safe treatment, healthcare providers must adopt a preventative cybersecurity framework to ensure uninterrupted care.
Conclusion: Cybersecurity Is Patient Safety
Clinicians should not have to worry about whether medical records are accessible or whether diagnostic tools will work during a crisis. Their focus must remain on saving lives.
But to make that possible, healthcare cybersecurity needs the same priority as patient safety protocols.
By fostering a culture of security, investing in strong endpoint protection, and enforcing Zero Trust principles, healthcare organizations can reduce the threat of ransomware and protect patients’ lives.
Call-to-Action (CTA):
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