A new study by the Ponemon Institute shows that cyberattacks against health care facilities such as hospitals and clinics often lead to increased patient death rates.
Cyberattacks Affect Mortality Rates
According to NBC News, the study interviewed more than 600 information technology professionals across 100 health care facilities in the US.
The study shows that the hackers attacking medical centers lead to patients' receiving worse care, making them more likely to die.
Around 59% of the respondents in the study experienced ransomware attacks and admitted that disrupted patient care strains resources and increases the length of patients' stays. This often leads to increased mortality rates at the facilities.
How Hacks Happen in Hospitals
In ransomware attacks in medical facilities, hackers gain access to their computer networks, lock up important data and threaten those in authority that the data will remain locked unless they get paid.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, ransomware attacks in the health care industry have increased. Hospitals do not reveal if they've been victims of attacks, but according to Recorded Future, there have been 297 attacks in 2021.
In early 2022, there were 12 recorded ransomware attacks on healthcare facilities in the US, but since some companies represent multiple locations, the attacks accounted for 56 different facilities.
Other Studies
Aside from Ponemon Institutes' study regarding ransomware attacks in the health care industry, other organizations have published their report.
In 2021, cybersecurity company Censinet revealed that hundreds of healthcare organizations in the US had been hit with a ransomware attack since 2020, resulting in an increased mortality rate.
The finding adds to a growing pile of data proving that cyberattacks cause financial, logistical, and mortality problems.
According to The Verge, healthcare workers have been reluctant to admit that ransomware attacks harm patients.
There have been few efforts to study the connection between cyberattacks and patient health, and hospitals are unwilling to share information about their experiences because it might affect their reputation.
Baby Dies Due to Ransomware Attack
Even though ransomware attacks in hospitals have increased yearly, only one case was publicized.
In 2020, a baby in Alabama with severe brain injury died due to botched care because her hospital was struggling with a ransomware attack.
The incident resulted in a lawsuit, which is still ongoing.
This marks the first credible public claim that a patient died because of hackers who shut down hospital computers in an extortion attempt.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Teiranni Kidd, the baby's mother, filed a lawsuit against Springhill Medical Center and claimed that the hospital did not tell her that the computers were down because of a cyberattack.
She also claimed that the hospital gave her diminished care when she arrived to give birth to her daughter.
Meanwhile, Springhill Medical Center said it had suffered from cyberattacks since 2019 and had been turning away some patients.
Kidd sued the hospital in January 2020, then amended the lawsuit in July 2020 after her baby died.
According to the lawsuit, Kidd was not notified by Springhill Medical Center that it was suffering from a cyberattack.
Related Article : Cybercriminals Face Manslaughter Charges as a Woman Died after a Nearby Hospital was Crippled by Ransomware Attack that Exploited Add-on Software Vulnerability
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Written by Sophie Webster
