This new form ransom attacks should have healthcare freaking out

A typical ransomware attack locks up data until a sum of money is paid to decrypt it. These cyber-threats have locked down hospitals and healthcare clinics all over the world, but they’re not specific to healthcare. The city of Johannesburg has been infected twice so far in 2019. The most recent attackers threatened to release sensitive city data on the Internet if the ransom was not paid on time.

This is a major threat for healthcare clinics, facilities, and organizations at risk of getting infected (which is all of them). Walking away from an infected clinic as at least one team of doctors has done, is not an option because of the risk of publicly exposing all of your patients’ health data. 

Leaking all of your patient records onto the Internet is the worst privacy breach imaginable. Hackers know that. Expect to see more and more of this type of breach.

It is more important than ever to avoid ransomware attacks in your clinic.

Training is the number one way to keep ransomware out of your clinic. Educate your staff about how to recognize attack emails. From a policy and procedure standpoint, limit or eliminate your use of traditional email on computers or networks that have access to private data.

Cyber attacks are up in 2019. Healthcare is the most targeted industry for ransomware, because of the sensitivity of the information and regulations requiring it to be kept safe.