The healthcare industry has become a prime target for cybercriminals, drawn to the vast amounts of sensitive data held by hospitals and clinics. Personalized medicine—hailed as the future of healthcare—offers incredible promise by tailoring treatments to individual patients through data-driven insights, from genetic information to daily habits and radiological images. But beneath this transformative vision lies a darker reality: the looming threat of data breaches and cyberattacks.
Every day, an avalanche of healthcare data is generated from electronic medical records, wearable devices, and advanced diagnostic tools. This data is analyzed at lightning speed using artificial intelligence (AI), uncovering hidden patterns that enable early diagnosis and personalized treatments. Yet this treasure trove has also become a magnet for hackers. Cyberattacks on healthcare systems don’t just compromise privacy—they can endanger lives by crippling critical infrastructure such as hospitals and diagnostic labs.
Despite remarkable advancements in technology, one question remains unavoidable: How secure is all this? The protection of healthcare data is a complex challenge requiring stringent standards and robust cybersecurity policies. In Europe and the U.S., regulations like GDPR aim to safeguard sensitive information, but practical implementation in healthcare often falters due to challenges such as anonymization and preventing re-identification of data through de-identification techniques.
The consequences of cyberattacks on healthcare systems are far-reaching. A study by the University of California San Diego revealed that during a month-long ransomware attack on a local healthcare system, nearby hospitals faced increased patient loads, delayed treatments, and compromised care for critical conditions. Similarly, the ransomware attack on Synnovis—a pathology service provider for the NHS in London—caused delays in blood tests, transfusions, cancer treatments, and elective procedures, demonstrating how interconnected healthcare systems amplify vulnerabilities.
Even more alarming are findings from NIHCM research showing that mortality rates among hospitalized patients can rise by 35% to 41% during the first week of a ransomware attack. Hospital admissions may drop by 17% to 26%, leaving patients without access to essential care.
The answer lies in the growing complexity of healthcare systems and their inherent vulnerabilities. Cybercriminals exploit security gaps to infiltrate interconnected networks, causing damage that spreads rapidly. At the Healthcare Innovation Forum in Rome, experts demonstrated how even a simple USB charging cable—dubbed "the death cable"—could be weaponized. By connecting it to a waiting room USB port, attackers could emulate virtual keyboards, exploit zero-day vulnerabilities in medical devices, and install persistent backdoors into hospital systems.
All it takes is one moment of distraction—a device left unattended—and the value chain becomes a chain of vulnerabilities.
Imagine, for example, this scenario: A multiparameter patient monitor begins flashing in standby mode—seemingly harmless. But behind its blinking light lies a hidden tragedy. A malicious payload activates through an ignored vulnerability in IT security systems. Within minutes, ransomware spreads across hospital networks under the name “Life at Stake," encrypting pre-operative anesthesia records and drug administration logs while disrupting live monitoring feeds.
At 3:45 a.m., terror strikes: operating room screens display a bleeding digital heart accompanied by an ominous message:
"Every second without Bitcoin = one patient in arrhythmia."
This is fiction, but it’s a plausible reality if cybersecurity isn’t prioritized.
It seems like a scene from a movie, but it’s not far from what could happen if we don’t act with a robust defense against threats we face, those that hide and those that envelop us. How do we protect ourselves? How does a healthcare system defend itself in an era where mathematics, embodied in algorithms, has embedded itself into our lives, turning AI into an active entity while reducing humans to passive spectators, helplessly observing?
Cyber-AI doesn’t just predict—it decides. Algorithms have become the beating heart of machines, creating a new logic that operates independently of human control or free will. These algorithms, powered by mathematics, train themselves on vast amounts of data and make autonomous decisions. Humans, at best, are assisted by them; at worst, they are manipulated and steered by their outcomes.
But how does a malicious agent exploit this? The answer is disturbingly simple: by poisoning the source—the data collected by devices designed to gather information. This is where an AI-powered attack begins, manipulating data in real time.
Imagine this: monitors in an ICU display false oxygen saturation levels (SpO2), dropping suddenly from 92% to 60% for stable patients. Infusion pumps alter heparin dosages, cutting them by 50%. Doctors and nurses scramble from room to room, trying to make sense of the chaos. Meanwhile, the central system collapses. Cardiac surgeries are canceled because CT scans are encrypted. Ambulances are rerouted to nearby hospitals due to inaccessible patient records. The entire healthcare infrastructure grinds to a halt.
It’s not science fiction—it’s a plausible reality if cybersecurity isn’t prioritized. The attack doesn’t rely on sophisticated coding or elite hackers. It starts with something as mundane as a USB cable left in a waiting room labeled “Urgent Patient Backup – Ward 4B.” An unsuspecting nurse plugs it into an administrative PC to retrieve data, unknowingly triggering malicious scripts that install backdoors into the system.
From there, our aforementioned ransomware spreads like wildfire through hospital networks, locking down pre-operative anesthesia records, cutting off access to drug administration logs, and compromising and interrupting live monitoring feeds.
This isn’t just about technology—it’s about human error and systemic vulnerabilities.
Negligence, outdated protocols, and misplaced trust in seemingly harmless devices create the perfect storm for cyberattacks.
Hackers don’t break systems—they exploit what already exists: negligence, haste, outdated protocols. And it’s always the patients who pay the price.
The solution begins with adopting zero trust approaches where every device—even the simplest—is verified before use. But technology alone isn’t enough. What’s missing is the will to implement these measures and develop tailored intelligence strategies for healthcare systems.
Francesco Terlizzi is professor of cybersecurity at the Marconi University in Italy, and also leads the university's Cybersecurity Lab for CTA (Cyber Threats Analysis). He is also Managing Partner and CEO of system integrator, ACGroup.
