06/24/2024

Red Tape is Making Hospital Ransomware Attacks Worse

Healthcare organizations are falling victim more often to messy attacks

Crippling ransomware attacks against hospitals and healthcare providers are on the rise. These ruthless cyberattacks can take medical systems offline for weeks—canceling appointments and surgeries and causing harm to patients. Doctors and nurses are plunged into crisis situations where they resort to using pen and paper, while IT staff work to make systems safe and bring them back online. The recovery can be long-lasting and brutal.

Healthcare professionals, lawyers, and cybersecurity experts tell WIRED that amid the chaos caused by criminal hackers, a little-known bureaucratic process can slow down hospitals and medical providers getting their systems working again.

The red tape involves organizations hit by ransomware sending detailed "assurance" or "attestation" letters to companies that they connect their systems or software with. These letters are designed to convince organizations that it is safe to reconnect after the ransomware attack, but they can add extra pressure to those already dealing with physically and mentally draining recovery operations.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.