Ransomware attacks have become more crippling to healthcare organization, causing some to shut their doors permanently. A recent study found that since 2016 ransomware attacks have cost healthcare organizations $157 million.
In the Comparitech study, researchers analyzed data from IT news channels, data breach reports and HHS Office for Civil Rights data breach portal. Then, Comparitech applied data from studies on the cost of downtime to estimate a range for the likely cost of ransomware attacks.
Here are four things to know:
1. Since 2016, there have been 172 individual ransomware attacks on healthcare organizations, with 1,446 hospitals, clinics and organizations affected.
2. Majority of the attacks (74 percent) targeted hospitals or clinics. The remaining ransomware attacks were against IT providers, elderly care providers, dental or optometry practices, plastic surgeons, medical testing organizations, health insurance companies, government health providers and medical suppliers.
3. With the number of ransomware attacks on healthcare providers, more than 6.6 million patients were affected.
4. Hackers have demanded a total of $16.48 million since 2016.