Global Cyberattacks Increased By 38% Last Year, Healthcare Hit Hard

Global cyberattacks increased by 38 percent in 2022 compared to 2021, new data from Check Point Research revealed. Healthcare was one of the three most attacked industries in 2022 according to Check Point Research data, along with the government and education sectors.

“Several cyber threat trends are all happening at once,” the report noted. “For one, the ransomware ecosystem is continuing to evolve and grow with smaller, more agile criminal groups that form to evade law enforcement.”

What’s more, hackers are increasingly targeting business collaboration tools used by remote workers and leveraging the rapid digital shift that many companies endured throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The healthcare sector in particular suffered an average of 1,410 weekly cyberattacks per organization, which was an 86 percent increase from 2021 data.

“Hackers like to target hospitals because they perceive them as short on cyber security resources with smaller hospitals particularly vulnerable, as they are underfunded and understaffed to handle a sophisticated cyberattack,” the research suggested.

“The healthcare sector is so lucrative to hackers as they aim to retrieve health insurance information, medical records numbers and, sometimes, even social security numbers with direct threats from ransomware gangs to patients, demanding payment under threats of having patient records released.”

While some ransomware gangs may shy away from targeting healthcare institutions, others see healthcare cyberattacks as an opportunity to quickly make money and gain access to sensitive data.

For example, the Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) recently issued a brief about Clop ransomware, a group that has set its sights on healthcare recently.

HC3 noted that “the gang has had difficulties getting victims to payout on a ransom,” which has prompted Clop threat actors to change their tactics.

“The group has been infecting files that are disguised to look like medical documents, submitting them to facilities, and then requesting a medical appointment in hopes of those malicious documents being opened and reviewed beforehand.”

These attacks have been highly successful due to the expansion of telehealth throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, HC3 suggested.

Check Point urged defenders to focus on cyber awareness training, patching and updating software, and leveraging prevention tools along with detection tools in order to safeguard against cyberattacks.