MonsterCloud CEO Zohar Pinhasi states that his firm has seen a 500% increase in calls from healthcare companies over the past several months. Pinhasi claims that ransomware attackers have shifted from attacking high-profile targets to small and medium-sized businesses with smaller ransoms. This can be fatal for smaller companies that can’t afford to pay the ransom or get professional cybersecurity help. Pinhasi claims that the threat of ransomware attacks is misestimated by intelligence agencies because healthcare organizations don’t want to report attacks.
A typical cybercriminal utilizing ransomware will gain access to a network and gather information for a few months, then launch ransomware. This is devastating to healthcare companies, and MonsterCloud allegedly has seen smaller companies cripple under the financial burden of paying ransom. Authorities advise companies to avoid paying ransom because it encourages more attacks using the same tactics. Big HealthCare providers can afford to pay high ransom prices to protect clients, but many smaller ones cannot.
Read More: Counterterrorism expert: Small healthcare companies are the new ransomware targets
