Medical records of 42 million Americans are being sold on the dark web since 2016, this information comes from cyberattacks on healthcare providers.
Researchers from Jama Network analyzed trends in ransomware attacks on US hospitals, clinics, and health care delivery organizations between 2016 and 2021.
Common operational disruptions included canceled appointments/surgeries, electronic system downtime, and ambulance diversion. The researchers calculated the operational disruption duration and other data related to the attacks.
From 2016 to 2021, the annual number of ransomware attacks passed from 43 to 91.
“In this cohort study of 374 ransomware attacks, the annual number of ransomware attacks on health care delivery organizations more than doubled from 2016 to 2021, exposing the personal health information of nearly 42 million patients.” reads the report published by Jama Network. “During the study period, ransomware attacks exposed larger quantities of personal health information and grew more likely to affect large organizations with multiple facilities.”
During the study period, the researchers documented 374 ransomware attacks on healthcare systems that exposed the personal health information (PHI) of 41 987 751 individuals.
The exposure of personal health information increased more than 11-fold, from roughly 1.3 million in 2016 to close to 16.5 million in 2021.
