Report: Ransomware attacks on healthcare facilities up by 94% globally

Editor's Note

According to a report from cybersecurity firm Sophos, titled “The State of Ransomware in Healthcare 2022” and published in May 2022, ransomware attacks on healthcare organizations have increased by 94% “year over year” globally, Becker’s Health IT June 6 reports.

The report includes findings from an “independent, vendor-agnostic survey” of 5,600 IT professionals, of which 381 respondents were in healthcare, across 31 countries. Becker’s surmised the below highlights:

• In 2021, 66% of healthcare organizations said they had experienced a ransomware attack, up from 34% in 2020.
• Of the healthcare organizations that suffered a ransomware attack, 61% paid the ransom—the highest percentage of any sector.
• On average, healthcare organizations were able to recover only 65% of encrypted data after paying the ransom.

Becker’s June 1 also reported on the latest healthcare cyberattack news: According to FBI Director Christopher Wray, “Iranian government-backed hackers were behind an attempted cyberattack of the Boston Children's Hospital in 2021.”

The FBI was able to warn Boston Children's Hospital in time to thwart the attack after receiving a tip from an “unspecified intelligence partner.” Director Wray emphasized that “private companies need to build relationships with the FBI in order to thwart nation-state hackers and ransomware gangs,” Becker’s noted.