How Healthcare Organizations Can Combat Ransomware

Healthcare organizations rely on their digital systems with everything from electronic health records and diagnostic capabilities to networked medical devices interconnected. If a ransomware attack is successful, in addition to potential HIPAA violations, it could prevent a hospital from treating patients, which might eventually cost lives. 

Due to the potential implications, hospitals are increasingly a target of cybercriminals. While healthcare organizations have started to modernize their security infrastructure, many are still in the early stages of this transformation to deal with these sophisticated threats. This coupled with email's pervasiveness makes hospitals a prime target for a successful ransomware attack.

The days of healthcare organizations relying solely on endpoint security software to stop attacks are over. Cybercriminals are continually looking for ways to exploit weaknesses in the network. Due to the possibly fatal implications, the healthcare industry can't take a lax approach to the resiliency of its systems.