Over the past year, there have been many cyber attacks on the healthcare sector, from which we can conclude that medical institutions and the data stored in them attract cybercriminals. But what awaits this area next year? This question was answered by the specialists of the anti-virus company "Kaspersky Lab".
Researchers have made a forecast for 2021, according to which more and more medical data (for example, information from medical records and insurance policies) will be sold on darknet sites.
It is noteworthy that already at this stage there are ads that offer medical information more expensive than bank card data. Having taken possession of such information, attackers can gain confidence in users and subsequently deceive them and their relatives.
In addition, there is also an attack vector using medical data: the criminal makes changes to it in order to make it difficult to make a diagnosis - a kind of targeted attack.
One of the most widespread malicious programs attacking the healthcare sector this year is ransomware. In many ways, cybercriminals carry out successful attacks due to the insufficiently serious attitude of medical institutions to the risks associated with digitalization. Also, often employees are not trained in the basics of cybersecurity.
According to Kaspersky Lab, in 2021, every fifth device (19%) in medical institutions around the world was attacked by cybercriminals. Experts believe that this figure will grow next year.
49% of devices in pharmaceutical companies have also been targeted by cybercriminals. And in 2021, according to researchers' forecasts, government groups will be more involved in such attacks.
