The $20 Million Blind Spot: Why Hospitals Should Consider Cybersecurity Before They Buy

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The $20 Million Blind Spot: Why Hospitals Should Consider Cybersecurity Before They Buy

Article Published September 26, 2025

This article originally appeared on DOTmed on September 26, 2025.

By Daniel Bardenstein

As cyberattacks recently paralyzed St. Paul’s city services and forced Kettering Health hospitals onto emergency reroute just a month before that, healthcare executives across the country are asking the same question: Are we next?

From my experience leading a company that secures hospitals, researching healthcare security policy with the Aspen Institute, and serving as cybersecurity lead for Operation Warp Speed, I’ve seen the challenges up close. During 2020 and 2021, I witnessed a devastating wave of ransomware attacks hitting hospitals already overwhelmed by COVID-19. The data suggests that most hospitals remain dangerously exposed—not despite their technology investments, but because of them.

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The $20 Million Blind Spot: Why Hospitals Should Consider Cybersecurity Before They Buy

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