In addition to medical technology companies like Olympus, attackers often target healthcare providers and practices. Gastroenterology Consultants, a Texas healthcare provider, revealed last month that it was hit by a cyberattack in January that primarily compromised the names, addresses and personal health information for a number of patients, as well as Social Security numbers for a smaller number. The practice was criticized for waiting several months to notify over 161,000 patients of the attack.

Not helping is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has made healthcare companies and providers more vulnerable to cyberattacks over the past two years. Cybersecurity technology company CrowdStrike Intelligence Services revealed earlier this year that the pandemic has led to a rise in data extortion ransomware attacks of up to 580% in the healthcare sector. It ranked healthcare in the top five most targeted areas by ransomware data extortion in 2020, with 97 incidents reported.

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