These aren't hypotheticals. Real practices — many just like yours — have been shut down, fined, and forced to close because of ransomware and data breaches. Here's what you need to know.
Surge in healthcare ransomware attacks in 2025
Average cost of a healthcare data breach in 2025 — highest of any industry for 14 consecutive years
Average recovery cost excluding ransom payment
Patient records stolen in the 2024 Change Healthcare attack alone
Of small businesses that suffer a major breach close within 6 months
What a single stolen medical record sells for on the dark web — vs. a few dollars for a credit card
Sources: Sophos State of Ransomware in Healthcare 2025 · IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025 · DialogHealth · HIPAA Journal · HFMA
These incidents happened to real practices. Read what went wrong — and what it cost.
The largest healthcare cyberattack in U.S. history. BlackCat ransomware group exploited a single missing control — no multi-factor authentication on a remote access portal.
The entire attack hinged on one missing control: MFA. One checkbox would have prevented the largest healthcare breach in history.
A single ransomware attack propagated through shared dental IT infrastructure, simultaneously locking down over 400 dental offices across the country.
Dental practices share software and IT vendors. One breach in the supply chain can hit hundreds of offices simultaneously — even if your own security is decent.
A Nevada-based dental group with 50+ locations discovered a breach that exposed data on over 1.2 million patients.
Size doesn't protect you. Multi-location dental groups are high-value targets precisely because of the volume of patient data they hold.
A single-dentist practice in the Midwest was hit with ransomware on a Tuesday morning. By Thursday, they were considering closing permanently.
Attackers don't care how many chairs you have. Automated ransomware scans the internet for vulnerable systems — your ZIP code and revenue don't factor in.
Cyber insurance has fundamentally changed. Carriers no longer accept checkbox applications — they want documented proof of every control.
Missing even one of these can result in a denied application, a denied claim after an attack, or dramatically higher premiums.
The City of Hamilton, Ontario had cyber insurance — but their claim was denied after a major ransomware attack because MFA had not been fully implemented across their environment. Having a policy is not the same as having coverage that will actually pay.
PracticeGuard helps dental and medical practices implement every control on the list above — so you can prevent an attack, qualify for coverage, and sleep at night knowing your patients' data is protected.