Healthcare cyberattacks are costing an average of $11 million per breach

The global healthcare sector experienced four times the global average of cyberattacks in the first three quarters of 2023. This increase has led to a rise in polar costs. The average breach cost is approaching $11 million — more than three times the global average making healthcare the costliest sector for cyberattacks. Ransomware attacks account for over 70% of successful cyberattacks on healthcare organizations in the past two years. Phishing and social engineering tactics are the most common methods used with 79%-91% of attacks starting this way. Email phishing has a success rate of 51.4% with large healthcare providers. The risk of regulatory fines, lawsuits, leaking sensitive information and an ever-increasing number of network-connected devices, are compounding the problem. Erich Kron, security awareness advocate at Knowbe4, has called for healthcare organizations to develop robust incident response plans, create a security culture across the organization, and tie this into existing safety programs. This approach needs to ensure organizations can respond quickly to cyber incidents and prevent the spread of malware or start any necessary recovery processes.