Ransomware in U.S. Healthcare: Threat Landscape, Impact, and Mitigation Strategies

Brandefense’s report examines a marked increase in ransomware targeting U.S. healthcare, detailing attack trends, profiles of major ransomware groups (LockBit, ALPHV/BlackCat, BianLian), and the severe financial and patient-safety impacts (downtime costs up to $1.9M/day). It identifies critical attack surface issues—outdated systems, IoT and medical device vulnerabilities—presents case studies (Change Healthcare, Ascension, Scripps Health), and offers a defense roadmap including backups, segmentation, and tailored measures for resource-constrained rural providers.