Security News > 2021 > May > Hackers are leveling up and catching healthcare off-guard

When attacking the healthcare industry, hackers are going beyond focusing on data exfiltration or leaking patient records.

The focus is to totally disrupt health systems operations with ransomware that locks up electronic health records and the IT infrastructure.

UHS: Until the incident at UHS, healthcare attacks were generally limited to one hospital, clinic, or office at a time.

University of Vermont Health Network: On October 29, 2020, the FBI, CISA, and the Department of Health and Human Services warned of a significant attack on the healthcare sector focused on more than 400 healthcare institutions, including the University of Vermont Health Network.

The health system had 5,000 computers and 1,300 servers corrupted and more than 300 employees were furloughed or reassigned as they could not do their work without access to IT systems and the EHR. This attack was so devastating that Vermont's Governor deployed the National Guard to help with remediation, and the anticipated cost is over $64 million.

COVID-19 wasn't the only reason 2020 will be historically infamous, but it was certainly a wake-up call for the healthcare system in many regards, including cybersecurity.

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