These attacks can affect healthcare providers’ abilities to deliver much-needed medical assistance, Senator Gary Peters, chairman of the HSGAC, said. “Breaches can also lead to the exposure of sensitive personal and medical information of patients and health care personnel. These relentless cyber-attacks show that foreign adversaries and cybercriminals will stop at nothing to exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities [in] our critical infrastructure and most essential systems,” Senator Peters added. Nikita Nazarov, head of threat exploration at Kaspersky, told VPNOverview that a cybercriminal’s ultimate target is money. Threat actors are targeting the healthcare sector because these institutions hold a vast wealth of patient data. Data stolen in breaches usually end up on the dark web, where they’re purchased by other threat actors and used for criminal schemes like identity theft and social engineering attacks.
Exploring Ways to Help Small and Rural Hospitals
The Committee sought a detailed picture of the unique cybersecurity challenges plaguing the sector. It also looked into the impact of ransomware on patient care. They asked witnesses how small and rural hospitals with limited financial resources can improve their cybersecurity. Furthermore, they explored ways CISA and the Department of Health and Human Services can assist the healthcare sector. Major cyberattacks, such as the Colonial Pipeline hack, have forced the U.S. government into action in recent years. The FBI and CISA monitor threats to critical infrastructure and inform organizations about them. For example, in October 2023, the FBI and CISA warned that the Daixin ransomware group was targeting the U.S. healthcare sector. The White House also hosts an annual summit on combating ransomware. Despite these efforts, the U.S. saw no decline in ransomware incidents in 2022. “The healthcare sector remains among one of the most vulnerable in the United States in terms of cybersecurity, and can be compared with government institutions,” Nazarov said.
Role of New Critical Infrastructure Incident Reporting Law
The HSGAC hearing occurred a few days after U.S. lawmakers signed a new provision requiring critical infrastructure owners and operators to report major cyberattacks, or if they have made ransomware payments, to CISA. According to the HSGAC, the provision, authored by Senator Peters and Senator Rob Portman, would assist the U.S. in dealing with cyberattacks sponsored by foreign adversaries like Russia. Peters said the reporting requirement would allow the government to reduce the impact of cyberattacks on the healthcare sector and help address network vulnerabilities. “Now that our bipartisan legislation has been signed into law, it will give the National Cyber Director, CISA, and other appropriate agencies broad visibility into the cyberattacks taking place across our nation on a daily basis to enable a whole-of-government response, mitigation, and warning to critical infrastructure and others of ongoing and imminent attacks,” Senator Portman said “The legislation strikes a balance between getting information quickly and letting victims respond to an attack without imposing burdensome requirements,” he added. We recommend reading our guide to ransomware to learn how to protect yourself from this threat.
