An American study reports a worrying increase in the mortality rate of patients in hospitals and other health organizations hit by cyberattacks.
It is often said that the most precious good in life remains health, but this thought unfortunately escapes hackers around the world, who are bringing an increasing number of establishments to their knees, with sometimes dramatic consequences. The latest report produced jointly by the company specializing in cyber Proofpoint and the Ponemon Institute alerts us to growing mortality in centers affected by computer attacks.
Hackers are well aware of the human and IT flaws in hospitals
Hospitals and other health establishments are particularly targeted by cybercriminals, who know that they are both saturated and weakened by the lack of human and material resources. Hackers are well aware of the fact that a hospital cannot afford too long of a service interruption, hence the proliferation of ransomware attacks in particular.
Last striking example in France: the cyberattack suffered by the South Francilien Hospital Center (CHSF) in Corbeil-Essonnes, attacked at the end of August by hackers who demanded from the establishment the sum of 10 million dollars. The Lockbit group has just claimed, on September 12 on its website, the theft of data via ransomware following its attack on the CHSF network. If they only ask for a million euros, the hackers are convinced of succeeding in obtaining a ransom, in exchange for an essential data decryption key.
A few days ago, the computer security research organization Ponemon Institute published, in association with Proofpoint, a study which highlights the consequences of these attacks on the quality of care provided to patients. And the results are particularly worrying.
2 out of 10 health organizations victims of cyberattacks see an increase in their mortality rate
If the report is confined to the United States only, we know that it can be the copy of what is happening in France and Europe, the Old Continent not being spared by the cyber threat, quite the contrary. As such, Proofpoint and Ponemon tell us that 89% of healthcare facilities have suffered, on average, a total of 43 attacks in the last 12 months. It’s colossal, in that we are statistically approaching one attack per week!
The study shows that as a result, more than 20% of healthcare organizations that were victims of computer attacks experienced an increase in the mortality rate of their patients. ” The attacks we have analyzed have strained the resources of healthcare organizations. These not only have a huge cost, but also have a direct impact on the quality of care provided to patients, putting both their safety and their well-being at risk. “, explains Larry Ponemon.
More broadly, 57% of the organizations questioned as part of the study claim to have observed a deterioration in the quality of the care provided and the day-to-day management of patients. The world of health thus recognizes a real vulnerability, it being, it must be said, not helped by the recent emergence of technologies from the Cloud, IoT or mobile, massively solicited by the sector.
Source: Proofpoint, Ponemom Institute
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