• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
• /
• v.36 no.5
• /
• pp.21-31
• /
• 2021

Ransomware attacks, such as Conti, Ryuk, Petya, and Sodinokibi, that target medical institutions are increasing rapidly. In 2020, in the United States., ransomware attacks affected over 600 separate clinics, hospitals, and organizations, and more than 18 million patient records. The cost of these attacks is estimated to be almost $21 billion USD. The first death associated with a ransomware attack was reported in 2020 by the University Hospital of Düesseldorf in Germany. In the case of medical institutions, as introduced in the Medjack report issued by TrapX Labs, in many cases, attackers target medical devices that are relatively insecure and then penetrate deep into more critical network infrastructure, such as EMR servers. This paper introduces security vulnerabilities of hospital medical devices, considerations for ransomware response by medical institutions, and related technology trends.