It's been almost two years since the WannaCry ransomware attacks . They were infamous for targeting medical facilities and organizations worldwide. However, it seems that the medical and hospital industry has realized the seriousness of the situation and has taken the appropriate measures. According to Kaspersky, there has been a noticeable decrease in the number of medical devices attacked this year.
According to the company's statistics, in 2017, 30% of hospital devices were compromised, 28% in 2018, and this year it is 19%. Of course, according to Kaspersky, this is not a decrease that is observed everywhere. In particular, the majority of medical devices in Venezuela, the Philippines, Libya and Argentina are still being targeted by attacks.
As medical devices, we consider all servers, computers and tablets, IoT gadgets and medical machines present in a healthcare facility.
The truth is that after such a high-profile attack as WannaCry, one would expect everyone to be informed and equipped appropriately. However, many countries fail to ensure the state of their medical equipment. Usually, attacks are received by hospital units in countries where either the necessary forecasting is not made or where the necessary information on cybersecurity issues is not available.
According to Kaspersky's research, 1 in 10 employees in management positions said they are not informed about their organizations' cybersecurity policies.
The head of the research and analysis team at Kaspersky Russia, Yury Namestnikov, said that medical infrastructure has many devices, some of which are portable and connected to the Internet. Technology is also being developed, with which doctors will be able to perform operations remotely in the future. As Namestnikov said, these are really remarkable steps, but they will create new fields of work for cybercriminals.
Thus, it is imperative to take appropriate measures because potential attacks put human lives at risk. Healthcare sectors are called upon to control who has access to servers and data. The hospital is a public place and a former employee, for example, if he still has the credentials he used while working at the hospital, could cause irreparable damage.
But in any case, cybersecurity awareness for all medical facility employees is essential.
