How do hackers hold hospitals, and Your Health, for Ransom?

Health: We all are aware of the term hacker. We all know what they do, which is hacking into someone else’s cybersecurity and privacy. They can hack anything from anywhere. 

And you should know why it is dangerous for the whole healthcare system in our country.

Also, Hackers are getting more dangerous these days as they have started targeting hospitals now.

They are now targeting hundreds of hospitals by hacking their systems and trying to infect them with the Ryuk ransomware strain.

What is Ransom? 

You may have heard this term for the first time. And all of us do not know about it.

The term ransom refers to a practice of holding a person or item to get money or something. And a ransomer wants from the hostage family or owner in exchange for their freedom.

On the other hand, ransomware refers to infecting a computer and encipher all the files in that computer. 

The victims have to pay the hackers, usually in the form of bitcoin, to get their data released to them, or else they could lose the data forever.

Hackers threaten to delete all the files unless they give them what they want from them. That is how this all works.

Now you need to know why hackers attack hospitals!

Why hackers hack hospitals

Since the last year, more than 25 percent of all hackers have targeted hospitals for their aim. 

Also, many types of research from 2018 states that health data is the second most at-risk type of information. But social security numbers are on the first number. That is why cybersecurity is playing a major role these days.

There are many such reasons for which hackers are targeting hospitals and healthcare facilities and reaching out to patients’ information. Firstly, patient data is very easy to sell, which is the most important reason for hacking such facilities.

Moreover, patient data is highly demanded in the black market. Hackers generate huge profits from stealing and selling this type of data in the black market. In some cases, they have also sold it back to the hospital itself and got a huge amount of money.

Why is it risky for our Health?

The data stolen by the hackers can scare off the patients as their personal information will be in the hands of some strangers. 

Besides, The hacker can know about their medical issues and can use them as patients’ weaknesses which can affect patients’ mental Health. Alongside their physical Health resulting in trauma among patients.

Conclusion

Hackers are targeting more and more hospitals for their illegal purposes for getting huge amounts of money by keeping the data for Ransom in exchange for money. 

Besides, there is a huge demand for patient data in the black market.

They even sell the information back to the hospital itself in exchange for huge profits. 

Thus, hospitals and other healthcare facilities should increase and improve their security system by encrypting the database of patients.