Cybersecurity in the healthcare sector: An integrated approach to national, European and global resilience

Michael Bayerlein, Annegret Bendiek, Jonas Hemmelskamp and Maik von der Forst

No 35/2026, SWP Comments from Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), German Institute for International and Security Affairs

Abstract: The healthcare sector worldwide is facing an increasing threat from cyberattacks. Between 2022 and 2025, the European Repository of Cyber Incidents (EuRepoC) recorded a total of 351 significant attacks on healthcare facilities. These data provide initial insights into the impact of cyberattacks on healthcare systems and sectors, and the crisis management that follows. They also highlight that such attacks pose a threat to public health and national security. The data analysis shows that national critical sectors and the European and international levels must be interlinked. The National Security Council could do so by developing an integrated national and international situational assessments based on interdisciplinary analyses. Only such an approach can systematically identify threats, derive effective measures from them and comprehensively protect the healthcare sector.

Keywords: cyber security; healthcare sector; public health; crisis management; resilience; national security; critical infrastructure; KRITIS; ransomware attacks; data theft; digitalisation; EU; WHO; National Security Council; BSI; ENISA; SSA; national security; health risks; cyberattacks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:swpcom:344002

DOI: 10.18449/2026C35

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