The healthcare industry has become an increasingly lucrative target for threat actors, due to a poisonous combination of sensitive data, outdated defenses, and the high stakes of paused operations. One Microsoft study showed that ransomware attacks on this fragile industry have risen by 300% since 2015, highlighting the necessity of strong security measures. The Health Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) only complicates the situation further.
One thing is quickly becoming clear: you can no longer afford to ignore cyber threats. But how can you effectively protect patients, data, and your clinic?
Why Threat Actors Love Healthcare Providers
It is not difficult to see why the healthcare sector is such an attractive target for cyber-attacks. Providers manage enormous amounts of highly sensitive data, from electronic health records (EHR) to financial information. This data is extremely valuable to criminals. They can sell it, or use it to launch additional attacks.
Unfortunately, this sensitive information is usually poorly defended. Healthcare institutions work with tight budgets and limited expertise, forcing them to carefully prioritize new investments. IT often falls to the wayside, in favor of necessary equipment upgrades. Any security present is typically several years out of date.
This presents a major issue. Most healthcare organizations cannot afford a data breach or other attack. Not only does this scenario cause untold financial and social damage, but it could end with legal trouble. Under HIPAA, you are legally required to protect patient data. Failure to do so could mean fines or other penalties. As a healthcare provider, you stand in a precarious position: you are both particularly vulnerable to attack and least able to afford one.
Ransomware Explained
Before going on, it is essential to define ransomware. This is a type of attack where threat actors steal or encrypt sensitive data, with the ultimate goal of forcing you to pay them money. They will often collect the information they need to launch these attacks through social engineering tactics, such as phishing emails.
Ransomware harms your organization in several ways:
- Data can be lost, causing severe damage to your daily operations
- All work can be brought to a halt, delaying patient care and potentially endangering lives
- Sensitive information can be leaked online or used for other attacks
HIPAA and Ransomware in Healthcare: The Biggest Mistakes You Can Make
There are a number of pitfalls healthcare organizations can fall victim to while attempting to navigate cybersecurity and HIPAA compliance, including:
1. Inadequate Assessments
HIPAA mandates regular reviews of your security measures, yet many providers fall at this first hurdle. They are either not performed, or are rushed in an attempt to fill out a checkbox. This defeats the entire purpose of performing a review, which is to identify gaps and vulnerabilities within your current security posture.
2. Insufficient Staff Training
Staff training is a core tenet of cybersecurity, particularly in healthcare. It is your best defense against the phishing attacks that so often let ransomware in through the front door. It is also essential for data protection, which is essential for HIPAA compliance. Despite this, it is often neglected. Providers may feel that they lack the time, energy, or funds necessary to provide staff training, which results in it being seen as low-priority.
3. Lack of Incident Response Planning
One important part of HIPAA compliance – and ransomware recovery – is your ability to respond during and immediately after an attack. But many organizations assume that it will never happen to them, and fail to prepare properly. Any plans they do write are untested, and half the staff often don’t even know they exist.
4. Everyone Can Access Everything
It may feel easier to provide all employees with unrestricted access to data, especially when the alternative significantly slows down patient care. But this can be a deadly mistake. If everyone has access, this means that a single breached account jeopardizes your entire organization. If you experience a breach as a result of poor or non-existent access controls, you will be subject to HIPAA penalties.
5. Paying the Ransom
Healthcare providers face immense pressure to maintain strong business continuity. In the event of a ransomware attack, which may shut down critical systems, this often results in them simply paying the ransom. You should never do this, for several reasons:
- It is not recommended by any regulatory body
- It marks you as a viable target for future attacks
- Most organizations that pay the ransom do not get all of their data back
Learning From Recent Ransomware Attacks in Healthcare
Unfortunately, it is not difficult to find examples of recent ransomware attacks in healthcare that demonstrate the need for your security practices to align with HIPAA. One such case is the infamous 2024 Change Healthcare breach, which was initiated by Russian group ALPHV BlackCat.
The ransomware employed by this group shut down a significant portion of Change Healthcare’s operations, incapacitating not only them but hospitals across the nation. An investigation found that Change Healthcare’s security failed because multi-factor authentication was not consistently used. Despite them paying the ransom, around a third of the stolen data was leaked online. All the payment did was cost them an additional $22 million on top of their other recovery costs, crippling them.
This event shows what can happen if you are unprepared for the possibility of ransomware attacks.
How to Prevent Ransomware in Healthcare: Best Practices
There are a number of ways to align your security with HIPPA and prevent ransomware in healthcare:
- Conduct Assessments: Perform regular security assessments, identifying any gaps. Then, make a plan for how you will fix them.
- Run Drills: Cyber awareness training does not need to be complicated, or require an entire day. Simple phishing and incident response drills can teach your staff a lot, while showing you where they need more education.
- Enforce Access Controls: Use the principle of least privilege and MFA to secure sensitive accounts.
- Encrypt Data: Encryption makes data useless to threat actors by converting it into an unreadable format. This is one of your best defenses against ransomware.
- Perform Backups: Backups of important information will allow you to maintain stronger continuity, removing much of a ransomware attack’s power.
- Test Your Incident Response Plan: Even the best plan can fall apart in an instant during a real emergency. Remember to test it thoroughly for flaws.
- Read HIPAA: While most providers understand that they shouldn’t reveal patient data outright, their knowledge may not extend to the security rule. Read the actual requirements, stay up-to-date on any changes, and make sure your staff understand what is expected of them.
Protect Sensitive Patient Data With Expert Guidance
Knowing how to prevent ransomware attacks in healthcare is utterly essential. It not only protects patients, staff, and your operations – it also helps you comply with HIPAA and avoid severe fines. This is one area where prevention is far better than the cure, and some simple security measures today could do a lot to save your organization tomorrow. Neglect is not worth the cost.
Instead of waiting for ransomware to devastate your organization, why not ask an expert for advice? ION247 understands the precarious position you’re in. You can’t afford to prioritize security, and you also can’t afford not to. We’re here to help you overcome this challenge. Learn how we protect healthcare professionals, allowing them to focus on patient care instead of cyber-attacks.
