The digital transformation of healthcare, involving patients, staff, doctors, and technology, presents significant challenges to security teams in terms of skills and capacity. This challenge can be seen in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights which reported 609 data breaches with more than 500 records being compromised in 2021.

A US hospital closed two years after a ransomware incident, highlighting that the health sector continues to be under threat.

In an era where digital data is integral to the efficient operation of the health care industry, the importance of robust cyber security solutions cannot be overstated. The sensitive nature of patient data combined with the industry’s increasing reliance on technology, significantly escalates the potential risks and consequences of cyber threats.

The ransomware, malware and phishing attacks going on in the healthcare industry are quite alarming these days. The customers' data in the healthcare industry is more sensitive than in most industries, and this has proven to be a sweet spot for threat actors. Recent research by Infloblox reported that in 2022, there were over 546 major data breaches due to malicious activity. This follows a 4% increase over the 521 major data breaches reported by healthcare institutions in 2023.

The healthcare sector has been under constant threat from cybercriminals due to the sensitive nature of patient data and the valuable information held by healthcare providers. This blog analyzes the ransomware landscape for the healthcare sector for the years 2022-2023. This report uses data compiled for the recently released Trustwave SpiderLabs research: Cybersecurity in the Healthcare Industry: Actionable Intelligence for an Active Threat Landscape report.

With its treasure trove of sensitive information swirling inside vulnerable legacy software, the healthcare industry fits the profile of an almost textbook-perfect cyber attack target. This is why ransomware attacks are so popular within the healthcare sector. Threat actors have very little trouble getting into the industry’s network, and they know the data they compromise is too valuable to end up on the dark web.

In the current digital age, healthcare providers are handling increasing volumes of data, emphasizing the urgent need for effective and accurate data management tools. IDcentral’s DeepScan, an AI-powered Document Extraction & Verification API, steps into this crucial role, revolutionizing the way the healthcare industry handles data extraction and verification.

A new report focused on the healthcare sector sheds light on the state of cyber attacks in the European Union, including the types of attacks, who’s targeted, motivations, and who’s responsible. The newly-released Health Threat Landscape report from the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) is the first analysis completed by the agency and covers incidents from 2021 through March of 2023.

We recently published a blog post detailing how threat actors could leverage AI tools such as ChatGPT to assist in attacks targeting operational technology (OT) and unmanaged devices. In this blog post, we highlight why healthcare organizations should be particularly worried about this.

The Trustwave SpiderLabs team conducted a months-long investigation into the cyber threats facing the healthcare industry and has provided a roadmap displaying how threat actors conduct an attack, methodologies used, and what organizations can do to protect themselves from specific types of attacks.