There have been more cyberattacks on healthcare and mission critical facilities in 2024 than in any other previous year, according to data from the American Hospitals Association.
So far in 2024, there have been 386 cyberattacks on healthcare facilities, which include data-theft crimes and ransomware attacks. The average cost of recovery of a cyberattack for a healthcare facility is $9.77 million, the highest for any vertical market, according to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach report. The report also says the average cost of a data breach in 2024 is $4.88 million, a 10 percent increase over 2023.
According to Security Industry magazine, the cost for a healthcare data breach is particularly expensive, not just because of stolen data, but because of negative patient outcomes due to systems being down or patient data not being available. In other words, cyberattacks on healthcare facilities are not just financial crimes. They are crimes that literally kill people.
The top attacks, according to Security Industry, include social engineering, phishing attacks, business email compromise (BEC), distributed denial of service (DDoS) and botnets.
Greg Zimmerman is senior contributing editor for FacilitiesNet.com and Building Operating Management magazine.
