Ransomware Attacks on Healthcare Is Costing Lives

Ransomware is more prolific and expensive than ever. Depending on the source you read, the average or median ransomware payment was at least several hundred thousand dollars to well over several million in 2023. Marsh, a leader in cybersecurity insurance, wrote that its customers paid an average of $6.5 million in ransom in 2023 (after just paying an average of $1.4 million in 2023).

If $6.5 million sounds like a big amount, and it is, the average ransomware demand by the attackers was far bigger, $20 million. So, $6.5 million is what the victim paid after negotiations (if they paid).

Most ransomware customers paying the ransom are paying over a million dollars. Chainalysis stated that around 75% of ransomware customers paid over $1 million in ransom. The number of victims who paid $1 million or more was under 50% in January 2021. These figures, of course, don’t include total cost resulting from recovery of the attack, which is often three to four times higher.

The only good news is that fewer victims are paying than ever. Just a few years ago, over 80% of victims would pay the ransom. Today, the payment rate ranges between 13% to 28% depending on whose research you believe. And the payment rate is continuing to go down over time. Maybe we’ll see a day when no one pays the ransom and ransomware finally goes away. If you don’t feed the beast, it will starve and die.

Ransomware is resulting in death. Every time ransomware attacks a hospital or healthcare-related company or service, it is impacting patient care. In what is widely considered the first death due to ransomware, a 2019 ransomware attack on an Alabama healthcare center potentially led to the death of a baby girl. The mother, in a lawsuit, claims that the decrease in normal services and pressure put on hospital staff during the ransomware event inadvertently led to her daughter’s premature death. The hospital and others claim the ransomware event had no impact on the baby’s death.

But since the lawsuit was announced, there have been dozens of other reports of how ransomware impacted patient care, such as delayed surgeries, slower prescriptions, or really any facet of patient care in today’s world of online medical services.

Aggregated statistics support the notion that ransomware is killing patients. A U.S. Medicare study reported that during normal operations, it is expected that three out of every 100 hospitalized Medicare patients will die, but during ransomware events that increases to four out of 100. It is calculated that between 42 and 67 Medicare patients died in 5 years due to ransomware. Considering that Medicare only covers 20% of U.S. patients, that number is likely to be far higher.

It's clear that ransomware attackers don’t care if they are interrupting patient care and killing people. Their only concern is profitability. 

Where is ransomware headed? What new tactics are today’s ransomware groups using?

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• Dissect the latest ransomware tactics and indicators of an impending attack
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• Merge technical and human security layers for a formidable defense strategy

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