03/19/2024

After Years of Ransomware Attacks, Healthcare Defenses Still Fail

Many reasons exist as to why medical providers are so vulnerable

For years, federal officials and industry executives have known that the U.S. healthcare system was one of the critical industries most vulnerable to hacking but failed to make the improvements that might have stopped attacks like the one that has crippled pharmacists and other medical providers for three weeks.

The danger was obvious in 2021, when ransomware gangs struck hospitals already overwhelmed by the covid-19 pandemic, forcing some to divert incoming emergency patients to other facilities and potentially contributing to deadly treatment delays.

But with private sector lobbyists opposing new security requirements, Congress and the regulatory wheels have ground slowly, mainly promoting best practices that hospitals can — and do — choose to ignore.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.