Amid this pandemic situation, there has been a growth in the rate of ransomware attacks in health sectors. Within a few months of this year, more than eighty ransomware attacks have been reported. These attacks have impacted both small and large health facilities.
Recently, a 434 bed hospital named as Presbyterian Medical Center Recently, a 434 bed hospital named as Presbyterian Medical Center of Hollywood faced a ransomware attack. Giles, the chief information officer of the hospital informed that due to the attack his staff had to pay $17,000 converted to cryptocurrency to the hackers. This incident created panic among all the physicians and nursing staff. Similarly, inspite of having necessary security protocols, the Hancock regional hospital had to pay $45,000 to the hackers for unlocking their computers.
The health care organizations have been facing new IT security challenges in this pandemic. In recent times, people are relying more upon telehealth services for treatment of patients in isolation. So ransomware attacks and other sort of cyber attacks are a serious threat to these sectors. As a preventive measure, these health organizations must arrange for secured IT infrastructure and monitor their networks regularly. These sectors should also look after vulnerability management and security configurations to prevent cyber attacks
