As hospitals continue to become a lucrative business for ransomware attackers, threats are expected to increase. This is because of the amount of previously unnoticed vulnerabilities and weaknesses in their operations, along with the desire for information found in healthcare documents. And because their systems now require constant access, many are more likely than in the past to pay ransomware demands.

But Chavoya says there are ways to protect against such scenarios, with the first being to educate staff about security awareness and how to identify red flags that signal an oncoming attack. Providers should also replace local accounts with password requirements with least privilege and federated Identity and Access Management security that requires multifactor authentication, and keep up with patching to stop attack exploits like Log4J.


In addition, they should abide by federal government initiatives and guidelines for obtaining information; produce business impact analysis reports on major challenges, cycles and technology enablements around ePHI/PHI data; and implement endpoint security on critical assets identified in business impact analyses.

“Though the single constraint remains, healthcare as a sector has not fared well in cybersecurity, likely because healthcare providers tend to have smaller budgets and fewer resources. While cyberdefense initiatives in Israel, the U.K. and worldwide are beginning to have an impact, it is still mostly up to the healthcare institutes themselves to fight off this offensive,” said Chavoya.

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