Alongside the increase in telemedicine use there has been a corresponding rise in ransomware attacks and other cybercriminal activity directly targeting healthcare organizations. In October 2020, the FBI and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued an alert regarding hackers which are increasingly using “RYUK” ransomware to target hospital systems during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The costs of such attacks can be very high; the agencies estimate that ransomware attacks have been responsible for loses of at least $61 million in the United States between 2018 and 2019.
With the increase in cybercrime there has been an increase in ransomware attacks specifically, with over 20 medical facilities recently affected. Since 2016, ransomware attacks have cost the U.S. healthcare system a minimum of $160 million, according to research by Comparitech. In September of this year, University Health Services which encompass over 400 facilities across the United States and United Kingdom experienced a “RYUK” attack which forced them to take 250 facilities offline. No patients were harmed; however, employee communications were severely hampered.
