NHS Ransomware Attack: What Makes Healthcare a Prime Target for Ransomware? – Source: www.databreachtoday.com

Fraud Management & Cybercrime
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Healthcare
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Industry Specific

Rubrik’s Steve Stone on Reducing Data-Related Vulnerabilities in Healthcare

June 18, 2024    

The recent ransomware attack on a key UK National Health Service IT vendor has forced two London hospitals to reschedule around 1,500 medical appointments including critical cancer treatments and organ transplant surgeries.

Ransomware operators target healthcare due to the industry’s architectural nuances that are similar to other industries, such as financial, industrial and even the government. What really moves the needle, Stone said, is data. “Healthcare organizations typically have about 50% more sensitive data, growing at five times the global average for other industries.”

“How do you prevent or limit ransomware in the cloud and SaaS? It has to start and end with identity,” he said. “The biggest method is understanding which users are impacting which data. It’s about understanding your risk surface area.”

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group at Infosecurity Europe 2024, Stone discussed:

• Takeaways from Rubrik Zero Labs’ The State of Data Security report;
• The importance of data visibility and understanding what needs protection;
• The challenges of incident response across hybrid environments.

Stone leads Rubrik’s new data threat research unit to uncover real-world intrusions from a range of threats. He has more than 15 years of experience in threat intelligence and has held roles in the U.S. military, intelligence community and private sector, including at Mandiant and IBM.