Page 228 - Cyber Defense eMagazine August 2024

identity theft. Did you know According to Forbes, that a healthcare record can be worth as much as $1000
on the dark web? You can make your data secure from such attacks with PeoplActive’s healthcare
cybersecurity consulting.

3. Operational Downtime

Another area which is impacted by ransomware attacks is operations. When a ransomware attack hits a
healthcare organization critical information is impacted like patient diagnosis and treatment history which
is critical for carrying out the operations. When such information cannot be accessed, the healthcare
institution must postpone appointments and care deliveries. Furthermore, healthcare organizations
without regular backups as a security measure must pay recovery costs to overcome this bottleneck.
40% of healthcare organizations had to bear this cost in 2023 as per the ‘The Global Healthcare
Cybersecurity Study 2023’

4. Reputational Damage

Benjamin Franklin has quoted, “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation and only one bad to
lose it.” A ransomware attack is the result of that one bad deed. Hospitals and healthcare institutions
must bear with the attack's aftermath where the patient's trust is lost. Ultimately affecting the hospital's
reputation and the bottom line. To recover from the reputational damage the hospitals must bear the
recovery costs. Infact, 35% of healthcare organizations had to bear reputational costs in the year 2023
after a cyber incident.

How can you stay proactive?

Staying proactive against ransomware requires healthcare organizations to take a multi-faceted approach
towards cybersecurity. Here are some things businesses can do:

1. Continuous Threat Monitoring and Detection

One of the measures against ransomware attacks is implementing continuous threat monitoring and
detection tools before they can inflict significant harm to your business. Insights from regular monitoring
can help hospitals detect unusual patterns or abnormalities in the systems and eliminate them before
they grow. One of the tools you can deploy is Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
systems.
The tool collects, correlates, and analyzes data on security from various sources, such as servers,
applications, and network devices. SIEM solutions enable proactive threat detection, incident response,
and regulatory compliance by centralizing security event logs and applying advanced analytics. These
threat monitoring and detection measures can be carried out in-house or managed by a cybersecurity
consulting services provider to reduce the risk.

2. Rock-solid Incident Response Plan

In most of the ransomware cases, the healthcare organizations are baffled as to how to process the
attack. Healthcare organizations should have a rock-solid incident response plan to mitigate such threats.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – August 2024 Edition 228
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