There's likely good money to be made for gamblers by betting on a plethora of cybersecurity attacks to occur in the year ahead. Some of them are going to be in healthcare; most are not. No matter the industry sector, the fact is we can expect a rise in attacks in 2017.

The healthcare industry should ready itself for a rough road ahead, with criminals continuing to hold patient records for ransom, according to credit reporting firm Experian. Electronic health record systems also are likely to be a primary target of attacks.

"Personal medical information remains one of the most valuable types of data for attackers to steal," Modern Healthcare reports.

As expected, health systems are the perfect target for cyberattacks because the data set contained is so vital — names, addresses, Social Security numbers and tons of other personal information. And there will always be at least one interested buyer for stolen patient records: the provider who created them and wants them back.

Ransomware practitioners often don't charge exorbitant amounts for the keys to the encryption algorithms they use to lock up a target's data and, in some cases, their software, too.

The Experian report notes that in just four years the average daily ransom received has gone from $30,000 to $300,000. But it's a volume business with the average payment being about two Bitcoins, or just $670. And, the report notes, victims don't talk so the public only hears of the larger incidents.

PaltoAlto Networks, a security company, points out that ransomware will continue to target healthcare. According to the company, "The bad guys have turned to ransomware as their go-to choice of attack because the Bitcoin payments are anonymous and, as a business model, it is an effective way to get paid without getting caught by the police."

The firm also noted that many devices used in medical facilities lack basic security. Often, medical devices lack endpoint protection and regular patching, functioning on outdated operating systems like Windows XP. For these reasons, they are prime targets for malware and cyberattacks.

But in the near term, there doesn't seem to be much cause for concern for breaches or hacks to actually impact the health of a patient

"There has been only one confirmed FDA order to pull a specific medical device out of hospitals," the company's blog reported. "The reason we have only seen one is because of insufficient research on and awareness of the problem."

However, with any luck, PaltoAlto Networks notes, appropriate security patches and fixes have likely been made as news about the attacks on healthcare has spread. Does that mean we will see a decline in cyberattacks at some point in the next year?

"Ransomware will continue to target healthcare throughout 2017 through the standard areas of attack: web-based drive-by downloads, malicious email attachments or links, and unpatched servers," PaltoAlto Networks reports.

In other words, don't bet on it.