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Crippling cyberattacks against hospitals and healthcare institutions are on the rise.

This year, theres been a sharp uptake in cybergangs stealing confidential patient data by launchingransomwareattacks.

Phone systems go down, while IT staff work tirelessly to bring services safely back online.

The recovery can be long-lasting and brutal.

It doesnt take long to see how ransomware can have a dangerous impact on the healthcare sector.

The industry is being increasingly targeted because of the valuable data it holds.

The gang demanded upward of $50 million from Synnovis as a threat to not release the data.

Security Technology and Strategy Director for Akamai’s EMEA region.

Calculating the human cost

With criminals operating internationally, cybercrime is ultimately a business.

The World Economic Forum has revealed that the cost of cybercrime could reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025.

Yet, when bad actors specifically target healthcare institutions - it is patients who pay the price.

Hospitals and other healthcare organizations are very complex as they constantly store and process significant volumes of personaldata.

Old healthcare IT systems also provide enticing entry points for cybercriminals.

For example, organizations frequently rely on out-of-support operating systems such as Windows 7.

One such example is connection segmentation.

Segmentation is vital to healthcare because it buys institutions the most precious resource of all; time.

Segmented networks slow bad actors down.

In healthcare, the speed of a successful response can quite literally be a matter of life and death.

Its imperative that healthcare institutions are empowered to tighten up their defenses by addressing key vulnerabilities.

Alongside securing infrastructure, healthcare institutions must provide the tools for employees to work safely and securely.

Training and refresher sessions must happen all year round.

Attackers rely on and exploit complacency at the entry point.

Another clear step that every healthcare establishment can take is to implement the assumed breach approach.

Unravelling attacks are intensely stressful situations but panic mustn’t set in.

Operating under the assumed breach mentality helps to manage this.

In the healthcare setting, organizations must operate under the never trust, always verify strategy.

We list the best medical practice management software.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc.

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