The number of hacker attacks on medical facilities in 2020 increased by 91%, according to Positive Technologies (PT). Attacks on healthcare organizations accounted for 9% of all incidents in 2020, overtaking the traditionally leading financial industry (7% in 2020). In medicine, cybercriminals primarily hunted for data from hospitals, but attacks on vaccine developers, laboratories, pharmaceutical companies and related businesses have also been reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 66% of cases, attackers used social engineering methods like phishing emails to gain access to computer networks of medical facilities, according to PT.\u00a0Cybercriminals used direct hacking in 21% of cases.\u00a0In the rest of the cases, the attackers either picked credentials for authorization or exploited web vulnerabilities, according to PT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe most common pattern of hacker behavior is getting a ransom for decrypting data. For medical institutions, equipment failures are critical, so the chances of getting the required amount are quite high, \u201dsaid Ekaterina Kilyusheva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, medical institutions are of interest to hunters for patient data. Hackers can sell them on the darknet to other criminals or demand a separate ransom from the hospital for nondisclosure, the specialist said. When a celebrity is hacked among the clients, the star can also be blackmailed, added Ekaterina Kilyusheva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome clinics provide clients with the ability to pay for services online. In this case, attackers may try to steal payment data, \u201dthe expert said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The number of hacker attacks on medical facilities in 2020 increased by 91%, according to Positive Technologies (PT). Attacks on healthcare organizations accounted for 9% of all incidents in 2020, overtaking the traditionally leading financial industry (7% in 2020). In medicine, cybercriminals primarily hunted for data from hospitals, but attacks on vaccine developers, laboratories, pharmaceutical companies and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n