Why is the focus of attacks on healthcare facilities?

The unprotected situation of the healthcare sector is one of the biggest problems facing the sector in times of pandemic.

Cyber-attacks on hospitals seek easy financial rewards due to the pressure on these institutions to have their systems down, which precipitates ransom payments in many ransomware cases. There are also other motivations, such as identity theft of medical equipment, the possible sale of sensitive information on the darkweb or even direct access to direct patient information.

In 2020, Latin America saw a 112% increase in attacks on the sector, and in Europe, Spain ranks second on the list, being the third most infected country worldwide, just after Canada (250%) and Germany (220%).

24/7 interconnected equipment and devices

Firstly, these are centers that have a constant activity (24x7x365) with management and diagnostic equipment always connected, being systems with a higher degree of computerized components. Healthcare centers have a very complex infrastructure to manage the wide variety of devices and equipment. In addition, they tend to be very long-lived equipment whose security systems become obsolete with the passage of time.

Lack of computer security training

Maybe one of the attacks that has surprised the educational community the most has been the one suffered by several leading universities around the world on their supercomputers, such as the supercomputers of the universities of Edinburgh, Munich or Dresden. The purpose of this attack is to put these computers to work in the “mining” of cryptocurrencies, a type of threat that according to data from the European Cybersecurity Agency (ENISA) is one of the 15 main threats occurring on the European continent, and which shows that even the most advanced computers are susceptible to attack.

Outdated software and obsolete equipment

Often, the existence of different types of software for the common management of information or even for the management of diagnostic information, does not have the relevant security updates or uses operating systems without any type of maintenance.

According to data from a 2019 Forescout report, 70% of computers in the healthcare sector use operating systems with no maintenance support, such as Windows 7, which Microsoft stopped supporting in January 2020.

More attack surface every day

The exponential growth of medical devices that require Internet connection means that there is a large attack surface in each hospital center.

Already in 2019, according to data from an IRDETO survey of more than 700 security managers of hospital centers in the United States, indicated that 82% of these centers had already suffered attacks focused on this type of facility.  

Sofistic Methodology

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