With phishing a primary threat, hospitals should invest in machine learning security

On May 12, the largest ransomware outbreak in history took place, targeting 300,000 machines in 150 countries, with the U.K.'s National Health Service (NHS) taking the brunt of the attack. In fact, 48 hospital trusts in the U.K. were targeted by the NSA cyber weapon-powered WannaCry ransomware, in addition to an unknown number of hospitals in the United States. Further, the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) reported that not just hospital machines were infected, but also medical devices from both Bayer and Siemens. By shutting down systems, communication channels and equipment, cybercriminals locked healthcare professionals out of their EHRs, forced them to cancel appointments and even turned away emergency patients. Unfortunately, this is just another example of the healthcare industry being targeted by increasingly sophisticated and frequent ransomware attacks.