Critical Condition: How Cyberattacks Threaten Patient Care and Healthcare Delivery

When cybercriminals target healthcare organizations, they don’t just compromise patient data; They put lives at risk. Recent major healthcare cyberattacks across the sector demonstrate that security breaches can cause treatment delays, medication disruptions, and potentially catastrophic gaps in patient care.
Beyond the financial costs (averaging $9.77 million per data breach according to IBM), healthcare ransomware attacks now threaten the very mission of care providers: protecting human life and ensuring continuous healthcare delivery.
 

When Hospitals Go Offline: The Real Impact on Patient Safety

The Ascension Health ransomware attack of 2024 provides a stark illustration of what happens when critical healthcare systems are compromised. As one of the largest health systems in the United States with 118 hospitals and 34 senior living facilities across 17 states, the attack’s impact was devastating and far-reaching.
It took Ascension six weeks to restore access to its electronic medical record system following the ransomware attack. During this time, the organization was forced to divert ambulances, close pharmacies, take critical IT systems offline, and resort to pen and paper for patient information. This attack began with a single employee who was tricked into downloading malware, highlighting how crucial cybersecurity awareness training is at every level of a healthcare organization.
The human consequences were immediate and severe. HIPAA Journal noted how clinicians “voiced concerns that patients’ lives are being put in danger” by these disruptions. Nurses reported having “far too many patients to ensure patient safety” when forced to use manual systems. Perhaps most concerning, the inability to access digital medical records put patients at risk of dangerous errors, such as failing to account for current medications.
Matt Lindley, Chief Innovation & Information Security Officer at NINJIO, explains why healthcare’s cybersecurity has such profound consequences:
“The Ascension breach highlights a stark truth: even a single lapse in judgment—like clicking on a phishing link—can cripple an entire health system. These operational disruptions aren’t just costly; They translate directly into delayed diagnoses, missed medications, and serious gaps in patient services. Healthcare cybersecurity means protecting people, not just networks.”
 

The Ripple Effect: How Data Breaches Impact Healthcare Delivery

The healthcare sector has experienced several massive data breaches in recent years, with consequences that extend far beyond the breached organization itself. The Change Healthcare attack of 2024 resulted in the largest breach of medical data ever recorded, affecting a staggering 190 million Americans.
The cascade of disruptions was immediate and widespread. Over three-quarters of practices reported service disruptions following the attack. Patients couldn’t obtain medications and struggled to access needed care. Critical procedures were delayed, prescriptions went unfilled (leading to symptom flare-ups), and timely diagnoses were missed.
The increased burden on healthcare workers was substantial, with 85% of practices reporting they had to commit additional staff time to manage the fallout. This added workload came in an industry already struggling with burnout and staffing shortages.
These attacks illuminate a critical truth: when healthcare systems go offline, the impact cascades throughout the entire healthcare ecosystem, creating ripple effects that touch millions of lives. Effective healthcare cybersecurity awareness is essential to preventing these catastrophic failures.
 

Unique Vulnerabilities: Why Healthcare Staff Need Specialized Security Training

Healthcare personnel face extremely stressful and exhausting jobs with life-and-death implications. This high-pressure environment makes them particularly vulnerable to the psychological manipulation tactics used in social engineering attacks.
According to Verizon, 68% of all data breaches involve a “non-malicious human element,” such as falling victim to a phishing attack. In healthcare specifically, “miscellaneous errors” surged from 2023 to 2024, with the most common being misdelivery — sending information to the wrong recipient.
Healthcare workers who face long hours and high-consequence jobs are especially susceptible to social engineering attacks that prey on their emotions and psychological vulnerabilities. It’s difficult for healthcare workers to prioritize cybersecurity awareness during a 12-hour ER shift or after losing a patient.
Matt Lindley emphasizes the importance of recognizing these unique challenges:
“Healthcare workers contend with immense pressure — rushed shifts, emotional strain, and life-or-death decision-making. We can’t expect them to become cybersecurity experts overnight. Instead, we must integrate practical, role-specific security awareness training into their daily workflows, so staying secure doesn’t feel like an extra task on top of saving lives.”
 

Creating Patient-Focused Cybersecurity: Human Solutions for Healthcare Challenges

Effective cybersecurity in healthcare requires a human-centered approach that accounts for the unique pressures and responsibilities healthcare workers shoulder. Cybersecurity leaders must present cybersecurity in human terms: by preventing a phishing attack, employees may be keeping an entire hospital online and ensuring uninterrupted patient care.
Healthcare cybersecurity awareness training must be:

• Relevant: Address the specific threats targeting healthcare, from phishing prevention tactics to social engineering schemes that exploit healthcare workers’ dedication to patients. Training should focus on real-world scenarios healthcare staff might encounter, including AI-powered phishing attacks that are increasingly sophisticated.
• Personalized: Account for different roles, responsibilities, and psychological vulnerabilities within the organization. A doctor may be targeted differently than an administrator, and training should reflect these differences. Human-based cybersecurity measures recognize that different staff members have unique security needs based on their access levels and job functions.
• Engaging: Healthcare workers have limited time and attention. Training must be concise, memorable, and integrated into existing workflows to be effective. Short, storytelling-based modules that demonstrate how security measures protect patient safety are more likely to be remembered and implemented.

As Lindley notes, “to keep employees engaged, shift from lecture-based to context-driven storytelling training. When training is relevant to real-life scenarios that are personalized to the individual and delivered in non-disruptive portions, engagement will increase. Real-time feedback and quick, scenario-focused lessons resonate far more than annual check-the-box exercises. In healthcare, where every minute counts, brief and tailored modules ensure that critical security behaviors become second nature.”
 

Building Technical Foundations with Human Cybersecurity Awareness

While human-based cybersecurity is essential, healthcare organizations must also implement strong technical foundations. These include:

• Multi-factor authentication for all systems containing patient information
• Regular patching and updates to address vulnerabilities
• HIPAA compliance training for all staff
• Data encryption for protected health information
• Secure backup systems that can be rapidly deployed during attacks
• Phishing simulation programs to test and improve staff awareness
• Systems to quickly identify and address suspicious activities

However, these technical controls are only as strong as the people using them. The Change Healthcare breach began when hackers infiltrated the company’s systems through a single user account that wasn’t protected with multi-factor authentication.
This demonstrates how critically important both technical controls and human awareness are in maintaining healthcare cybersecurity.
 

Protecting Patients by Protecting Systems: The Future of Healthcare Cybersecurity

The ultimate goal of a healthcare cybersecurity program is the same as every other aspect of the organization: the health and safety of patients. Every click, every email, and every security decision made by healthcare workers has the potential to impact patient care.
Healthcare organizations must recognize that protecting digital systems should extend beyond their mission of healing, and build said systems as an essential component of it. When systems fail due to cyberattacks, patients suffer real consequences.
By building robust human-centered cyber defenses, healthcare organizations can ensure they remain available to deliver their most critical service: patient care. In healthcare, cybersecurity is just as much about protecting lives as it is about protecting data.
 

Taking Action: Next Steps for Healthcare Security Leaders

Healthcare cybersecurity leaders looking to strengthen their organization’s defenses should focus on:

• Implementing comprehensive healthcare security awareness training that addresses the specific threats facing the sector
• Conducting regular phishing simulations to identify vulnerable staff members who need additional support
• Developing a human-based cybersecurity framework that accounts for the psychological vulnerabilities of healthcare workers
• Ensuring all systems comply with HIPAA requirements and other healthcare data regulations
• Creating clear incident response plans for when breaches occur

For a comprehensive framework on building effective human-centered cybersecurity defenses in healthcare, download our full report: In Critical Condition: Human Cybersecurity for the Healthcare Sector.
About NINJIO
NINJIO reduces human-based cybersecurity risk through engaging training, personalized testing, and insightful reporting. Our multi-pronged approach to training focuses on the latest attack vectors to build employee knowledge and the behavioral science behind human engineering to sharpen users’ intuition. The proprietary NINJIO Risk Algorithm™ identifies users’ social engineering vulnerabilities based on NINJIO Phish3D phishing simulation data and informs content delivery to provide a personalized experience that changes individual behavior.