Of the many high-profile cyberattacks to make headlines in the past few years, few provoke a feeling of concern like ransomware attacks on hospitals and healthcare institutions. With patients’ lives on the line and a wealth of incredibly sensitive data, these organisations present a compelling target for ruthless cybercriminals. Unfortunately, the sector is often a soft target as they have lower levels of protection in place and a general lack of cybersecurity investment.

Our research shows that healthcare is consistently in the top 3 of all targeted sectors, hardly a surprise given the wealth of personal data available and the opportunity for double extortion attacks. We know that virtually all ransomware attacks now focus on data exfiltration – the problem we have is that organisations continue to rely on existing defensive technologies that simply aren’t up to the job of preventing these attacks. To really secure valuable data, newer technologies such as anti-data exfiltration must be added to the security stack.