Justice Okamgba
Two-thirds of healthcare organisations were hit by ransomware in the past year, according to the global cybersecurity firm, Sophos, in its “State of Ransomware in Healthcare 2024” report.
It stated that this was a rise from 60 per cent in 2023, reaching the highest rate in four years.
The report revealed that while ransomware attacks had declined in other sectors, the healthcare industry continued to face increasing cyber threats, highlighting its vulnerability due to the sensitive nature of healthcare data and services.
It noted that the rising rate of ransomware attacks against healthcare institutions contrasted with the declining rate of ransomware attacks across sectors.
It added that the overall rate of ransomware attacks fell from 66 per cent in 2023 to 59 per cent in 2024.
Alongside an increase in the rate of ransomware attacks, the healthcare sector reported increasingly longer recovery times, the report stated.
According to Sophos, only 22 per cent of ransomware victims fully recovered in a week or less, a considerable drop from the 47 per cent reported in 2023 and 54 per cent in 2022.
In addition, 37 per cent took more than a month to recover, up from 28 per cent in 2023, reflecting the increased severity and complexity of attacks, the firm stated.
The Field Chief Technology Officer, Sophos, John Shier, stated, “While we’ve seen the rate of ransomware attacks reach a kind of “homeostasis” or even decline across industries, attacks against healthcare organisations continue to intensify, both in number and scope. The highly sensitive nature of healthcare information and the need for accessibility will always place a bullseye on the healthcare industry from cyber criminals.
“Unfortunately, cybercriminals have learned that few healthcare organizations are prepared to respond to these attacks, demonstrated by increasingly longer recovery times. These attacks can have immense ripple effects, as we’ve seen this year with major ransomware attacks impacting the healthcare industry and impacting patient care.”
He said 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.
The latest Sophos report on real-world ransomware experiences explored the full victim journey, from attack rate and root cause to operational impact and business outcomes, of 402 healthcare organisations.
The results for the sector survey report were part of a broader, vendor-agnostic survey of 5,000 cybersecurity/IT leaders conducted between January and February 2024 across 14 countries and 15 industry sectors.
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