As cyber threats have grown, so too have the risks for small medical practices. With more and more attacks targeting small practices over the last several years—including ransomware attacks that can interfere with daily operations and expose patient data—all local healthcare providers are affected by increasing cyber risk.
In the case of the recent MEDPEDS – Data Breach, public disclosures indicate that a security breach was first recorded on September 2, 2025. A virus was discovered on that date and then subsequently identified as having contaminated various electronic systems. Ransomware is typified by using a virus to encrypt data, which was the described process of this attack. The systems were subsequently recovered through the assistance of cryptanalysis. However, it is important to acknowledge that the MEDPEDS Data Breach potentially compromised the confidentiality of personal and/or medical information related to individual patients.
When an organization is subject to ransomware, there is usually disruption of the organization due to the infiltration of a system, the encryption of data, and the requirement for the system to be restored in exchange for payment. Still, beyond disruption of operations, the impact of ransomware on creative industries goes beyond this. When the systems of an organization are impacted by ransomware, a patient can expect that all of the very sensitive data that would typically exist in the patient’s record—including their identity and address, as well as any patient information relating to the patient’s health—could potentially have been exposed.
There are several reasons (a total of 26) why small healthcare providers are more vulnerable than large hospital networks to cyberattacks. Small providers typically have less capital than large providers, limiting their ability to deploy sophisticated cybersecurity tools and processes. Small providers generally have a much greater reliance on third-party systems to provide electronic services and information to their patients. Because of this, they are at a greater risk of being compromised by an external attack through a third-party vendor.
Additionally, the increased urgency of responding quickly after being the target of an attack is due to the nature of healthcare services; if a provider's systems are compromised due to ransomware, the provider can no longer see patients, their scheduled appointments are delayed, their medical records are inaccessible, and their administrative functions may slow. These factors weigh heavily on the urgency of promptly responding to an attack. Lastly, the long-term implications of every instance of compromising a provider's electronic medical records is that the exposed medical data can be reused in the future (e.g., for identity theft) and will be considered to be credible by the buyer because of the matching taxpayer-identifiers included in the individual's medical record.
Healthcare providers also have an obligation to uphold the utmost privacy standards when providing care for patients. When there is a breach of these privacy standards by an individual accessing medical records without authorization, that provider will be subjected to extensive regulatory reviews and will likely have to notify all individuals whose records were accessed, even if the access was unintentional. The time lost in addressing the individual's violation of privacy, as well as any additional regulatory action, may adversely impact the provider's operations and reputation in the long term.
The MEDPEDS case serves as an important example because it illustrates how many organizations do not discover that they have had any unauthorized access to their systems until after their systems have been compromised or they have detected anomalous activities in their system. Therefore, the delay in discovering unauthorized access to a system only prolongs the amount of time that data within that system is exposed to being accessed without the authorization of a person authorized to access that data.
As new types of cyber threats continue to be developed, there is increasing pressure within the healthcare sector for healthcare organizations to strengthen their defenses. Some small group practices may need to adopt new secure systems, conduct regular and consistent risk assessments/security assessments, and make sure that all staff members are trained to identify potential cyber threats, including phishing.
Ransomware attacks are more than an IT problem; they are an operational and data privacy issue that impacts both the organization and the patient. As healthcare continues to move towards digitalizing its operations, improving its cyber security will be critical in protecting patients' sensitive data and maintaining the trust that patients and providers have in each other.
