The Hospital Clínic of Barcelona made the news a few months ago after suffering a devastating cyberattack in which the criminals who caused it stole confidential patient data and forced the descheduling of non-urgent operations, outpatient consultations and the postponement of oncological radiotherapy sessions.
The sophisticated attack was the work of the cybercrime group called Ransom House, which normally commits acts of this type for money and which once again showed the importance of investing in cybersecurity, especially for public administrations due to the serious consequences of these cases.
For Miguel López, General Director of the cybersecurity company Barracuda Networks, this is a complex phenomenon: "In some cases we find entities that, either due to lack of budget, awareness, human resources or a combination of all of this, are not knowing how to adapt its level of cybersecurity to the demand of the current reality in which our AAPP are constantly in the crosshairs of cybercriminals,” highlights the expert.
However, he also assures that “it is difficult to generalize since some administrations undoubtedly take cybersecurity very seriously,” and those that do not should take this into account: “It is a matter of time, and surely not much, before the entity in question suffers one or more successful attacks with consequences ranging from economic damage (far greater than what would have been necessary to invest to protect itself), the theft of data that allows further attacks, the paralysis of services and even loss of life (due to the possible consequences of attacks on critical infrastructure).”
For greater concern, the Clínic cyberattack was not really a new one: “There really wasn't much to learn either since it was not an attack that used very advanced or novel techniques... it was an attack very similar to others that occurred before on other entities and also like those that have followed (which shows that little has been learned from it),” says López.
However, this case could have served to help "internalize that if adequate investments are not made in cybersecurity, the ravages of an attack can lead to costs much higher than those that adequate prevention would have required" and that "cyberattacks clearly "They can put human lives at risk, we are not just talking about economic costs."
There is work to do in Spain, since as López recalls “it is one of the most attacked countries in the OECD” and data supports this: “According to Incibe, Spain suffered more than 118,000 security incidents, which means that all days hundreds of companies suffer attacks, of greater or lesser magnitude,” says the expert.
“In fact, according to the data we manage at Barracuda Networks, 73% of companies have been the victim of a successful ransomware attack (data ransom) during 2022. This data comes from the 'Ransomware Insights 2023' study, which also reveals that 38% of these companies have suffered multiple attacks and that of organizations that have suffered three or more attacks, 42% paid the ransom to recover their data, compared to 31% of single attack victims who chose for doing it,” reveals López.
Concern and awareness that more investment is needed in cybersecurity is increasing, which has caused many companies and administrations to look for professionals who are experts in this field and have training to protect data and computer systems.
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