(TheRedAlertNews.com) – In a massive new cybercrime wave, which is likely to disproportionately affect Americans in rural areas, almost 130 hospitals nationwide with already overstretched resources have been targeted by debilitating ransomware attacks, allegedly from America’s foreign enemies.
The recent surge in ransomware attacks targeting hospitals in the United States poses a particularly significant threat to rural healthcare providers and their patients, who often have limited alternatives for medical care, NewsNation points out in a report.
Hospitals have faced disruptions in emergency operations and insurance billing, and in one extreme case, the attacks have led to the closure of a struggling hospital.
Last year, 25 U.S. healthcare systems encompassing 290 hospitals were targeted, while this year the number has risen to at least 36 systems affecting 128 hospitals, as reported by the Associated Press.
Jake Milstein, Chief Marketing Officer at cybersecurity firm Critical Insight, emphasized that these cybercrimes do not discriminate based on the size or location of the healthcare facility.
Consequently, rural communities can experience profound impacts, such as canceled appointments and extended travel times for emergency treatment.
“I still talk to people who are like, ‘Oh, we’re too small. We’re in the middle of nowhere. They’ll never come for us. That’s just not true,’” Milstein said.
In June, St. Margaret’s Health in Spring Valley, Illinois, announced its closure, attributing it to a 2021 ransomware attack that impeded their ability to submit claims to insurers, Medicare, or Medicaid for months, leading to financial difficulties.
“Rural hospitals have been struggling throughout the nation and many have already closed. It has become impossible to sustain our ministry. This saddens us greatly,” Sister Suzanne Stahl of SMP Health, the hospital’s parent organization, told NewsNation.
The financial stability of rural hospitals has already been precarious. A KFF analysis from February 2023 found that median operating margins for these institutions, which had increased during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, have since plummeted from 7.7% in July 2019-June 2022 to 3.3% in July 2021-June 2022.
Milstein raised concerns about the lack of funding for rural hospitals to protect themselves against well-funded cybercriminals backed by foreign governments.
“We’re not giving them the money they need to protect themselves against the criminals who are so well funded, they are funded by foreign governments,” he said.
The report notes that these ransomware attacks have been traced to North Korea, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Putin’s Russia.
