Ransomware accelerates attacks on global healthcare firms

Sophos Limited, a British cybersecurity defense company, has detected a 67 percent increase in ransomware attacks on global healthcare organisations in 2024, up from 60 percent reported in 2023.

The fifth annual study of Sophos entitled, ‘The State of Ransomware in Healthcare 2024,’ disclosed this through a survey of 5,000 IT/cybersecurity leaders across 14 countries in the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific, including 402 respondents from healthcare organisations between 100 and 5,000 employees.

According to Sophos, the rate of ransomware attacks on healthcare organisations was 34 percent in 2021 and about 66 percent of the healthcare compromise attempts were successful in 2022.

Ransomware attacks are a significant cybersecurity threat that has consequences for healthcare organisations. These attacks involve malicious software that encrypts or locks victims’ data, demanding a ransom payment in exchange for decryption or access restoration.

The report noted that about 95 percent of healthcare organisations hit by ransomware in the past year said the cybercriminals attempted to compromise their backups during the attack, slightly above the global average of 94 percent.

“Across all sectors, healthcare reported the second-highest attack rate globally, joined by energy, oil/gas, and utilities,” it said.

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In 2024, exploited vulnerabilities and compromised credentials were the most common entry methods for ransomware attacks in this sector, followed by malicious emails, which were the root cause of 19 percent of attacks.

Global ransom demands of those whose backups were not impacted were $1.3 million in 2023 and tripled to $4.4 million in 2024. However, median overall recovery costs doubled from $375,000 to $750,000.

According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria has lost $500 million to cybercrime due to the rising incidence of cyberattacks globally and locally.

Other reports say a cyberattack occurs every 39 seconds, and cybercrimes have increased by nearly 300 percent since the COVID-19 outbreak. However, different studies have proved that the pandemic led to a surge in Internet usage and created a feasting ground for cyberattacks.

Vanson Bourne, a research specialist who conducted the survey report, concluded that to combat these determined adversaries, healthcare organisations must adopt a more proactive, human-led approach to threat detection and response, combining advanced technology with continuous monitoring to stay ahead of attackers.