Case Studies on disproportionate Impact of Cyberattacks in the Healthcare Sector

Abstract

Healthcare organizations store valuable data on patient’s protected health information, such as past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition and provision of health care to patients, financial information such as credit card and bank account information, personal identifying information, such as social security number and date of birth, and proprietary research in medical science, treatment, and technologies.  This information is of  significant monetary value and can be used by cyber thieves and hackers to blackmail patients, particularly rich and influential ones.  Hence, cyberinfrastructure used by these organizations is constantly under attack by cyber thieves and hackers.  For example, healthcare organizations were subjected to an average of 1,463 cyberattacks per week globally in 2022. This paper uniquely investigates the outsized impact of cyberattacks within the healthcare sector through numerous case studies by exploring their effects across industries. These attacks, targeting computer systems or networks, result in significant financial losses and compromise highly sensitive personal information. Within healthcare, they pose a grave threat to patient privacy, enabling unauthorized access to Protected Health Information (PHI) and other confidential data. With the rising frequency of cyberattacks in healthcare, immediate action is imperative. A comprehensive understanding of the issue and critical evaluation of existing policies are both pivotal in formulating effective and equitable strategies for counteraction.