Healthcare Employers Must Be Vigilant in 2026 Against More Sophisticated Cyberattacks

Quick Hits

• The rapid transformation of healthcare, including advancements in nanomedicine and AI, has significantly increased cyber risks, with PHI breaches escalating from 6 million in 2010 to 170 million in 2024.
• Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting healthcare infrastructure and clinical systems, manipulating patient records and devices, which can compromise patient safety and impose substantial financial and reputational costs on providers.
• Preparedness and disciplined incident response are crucial for healthcare employers to mitigate the impact of cyberattacks, requiring immediate action, thorough documentation, law enforcement engagement, and post-incident security enhancements.

Cybercriminals no longer aim to simply steal or encrypt data—they increasingly seek to manipulate critical healthcare infrastructure and clinical systems in terrorist-like cyber-attacks. This includes altering patient records—such as medication dosing, and infiltrating or reprogramming devices used in surgical procedures or oncology treatments, placing patient safety and clinical outcomes directly at risk. Cyber incidents can compromise continuity of care, degrade clinical quality, and erode public trust—all while imposing enormous financial and reputational costs on providers.

Ransomware remains the most disruptive and prevalent attack modality. Cybercriminals deploy double extortion techniques—first exfiltrating health data, then encrypting it—to force payment both to restore access and to prevent public disclosure of stolen information. Even when organizations maintain robust backups, cybercriminals increasingly target those backups to eliminate recovery options and to pressure payment. The challenge extends into the future as data stolen today may be stored for later decryption as cybercriminals anticipate leveraging quantum computing capabilities to decode currently secure encryption methods, further amplifying the long-term risk profile of compromised data. Healthcare employers have reported recovery timelines of more than a month, and some providers have elected to pay ransoms to stabilize operations and protect patient care.

Preparedness and disciplined incident response are paramount. When a cyberattack occurs, speed, clarity, and precision in execution can substantially reduce patient risk, regulatory exposure, and operational downtime. The following action framework provides a practical guide for healthcare employers facing an active incident:

• Activating the internal person who has been designated in your organization to stop cyberattacks and mitigate further losses
• Immediately assessing and auditing the situation, which includes identifying the nature of the attack, and the scope of data and systems affected
• Disconnecting impacted systems from the network to prevent further compromise or spread of the attack, while preserving forensic integrity
• Documenting the incident, including recording details including suspected start time, observed behaviors, compromised systems, and initial response steps
• Engaging relevant law enforcement authorities promptly, for example, by reporting attacks to law enforcement, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and/or other government agencies (e.g., Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)) to assist in investigating, and/or recovering data that has been encrypted
• Timely notifying compromised parties, which includes informing persons whose data may have been accessed,  such as patients, employees, or other partner providers
• Thoroughly sanitizing and restoring data, a step that involves removing malware from infected systems, restoring validated data from backups, and updating software/firmware to latest versions to eliminate known vulnerabilities
• Once stabilized, shifting to enhance security, e.g., conducting a comprehensive post-incident review to identify control gaps and systemic weaknesses/vulnerabilities, then investing in targeted improvements such as multifactor or biometric authentication, stronger encryption, segmented network architecture, and ongoing employee training to reduce susceptibility to credential compromise

Vigilance is essential in an era when threat actors continuously refine their tools, techniques, and access. Healthcare employers cannot afford to be complacent. The convergence of digital healthcare innovation and cybercriminal sophistication demands a proactive approach, which includes testing employer incident response plans, validating backups and restoring procedures, clarifying decision authority for ransom scenarios, mapping critical systems and data flows, and routinely exercising cross-functional coordination with clinical, legal, compliance, and technology stakeholders. With deliberate preparation, and rapid, coordinated action, organizations can protect patients, preserve trust, and recover faster when the next cyberattack occurs.

Ogletree Deakins’ Cybersecurity and Privacy Practice Group and Healthcare Industry Group will continue to monitor developments and will post updates on the Cybersecurity and Privacy and Healthcare blogs as additional information becomes available.

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