Ransomware has proliferated through every vertical and industry and continues its upward trajectory trend. It is costing billions of dollars in 2021. The most affected organizations are healthcare and government, in many cases rendering them incapable of offering their critical services to patients and clients, and this affects all of us. Health IT Security reports, “On average the ransomware attacks cause about 15 days of EHR (Electronic health record) downtime.” Some incidents last more than a month, such as the attacks at University of Vermont Health Network and Universal Health Services (UHS). “UHS attack impacted all 400 of its US care sites and caused three weeks of downtime, with a total of $67 million in recovery efforts and lost revenue.” At UVM, the attack that occurred in October cost around $1.5 million per day in lost revenue and expenses to restore its computer systems.
