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1. Why healthcare is the
biggest target for
cyberattacks
Introduction
In the past few years, the world has significantly changed as digital
technology has revolutionized almost every aspect of life and transformed
every industry. The health sector is no exception; the evolving trend is
perhaps more noticeable in the healthcare industry than in others. For
instance, AI-enabled frontier technologies enable care providers to
diagnose diseases better, extend their lifespan, and save lives. Today, most
healthcare organizations are digital, and care providers are employing
computer-implemented or enabled hardware and software to allow care
providers to offer safe and compassionate patient care.
Although healthcare providers and innovators are dedicated to saving lives
and curing disease, their systems are a prime target for cybercriminals, and
hospital systems and records continue to be breached. There has never
been a more critical time for healthcare data security, as cybercriminals
develop increasingly sophisticated tools and techniques to attack
healthcare organizations. The dramatic increase in cyber-attacks
compromises sensitive patient information and undermines patient safety
and public confidence in the healthcare industry.
While many healthcare organizations are committed to safeguarding
patients’ privacy regardless of the means, some are still lagging when it
comes to Cybersecurity and keeping up with modern times. Today more
than ever, health care organizations hold a great deal of information about

2. their patients, including their medical records, medical histories, and
insurance information. For every advancement in technology, improvement
delivered by automation, interoperability, and data analytics, increases the
vulnerability to malicious cyberattacks as well. Hence it is necessary for
healthcare organizations to have a comprehensive and agile security plan
that can mitigate security threats.
Before we move further, let’s look at
What is Cybersecurity in
Healthcare?
Health care organizations, whether large or small, are prime targets for
cybercrime. Especially in today’s electronic world, Cybersecurity is a critical
aspect of the healthcare industry, and safeguarding data is vital for the
normal functioning of any organization. The goal of Cybersecurity in
healthcare is to protect electronic information and assets against
unauthorized access, use, and disclosure.
Healthcare organizations use a variety of devices and systems, including
Electronic health record (EHR), e-prescription systems, clinical decision
support systems, practice management systems, radiology information
systems, computerized physician order entry systems, devices that are
connected to the Internet of Things (IoT), infusion pumps, remote patient
monitoring devices, and more, all these are vulnerable to cyber security
attacks.
Healthcare organizations are subjected to many different kinds of
cybersecurity threats such as ransomware, malware, phishing & spear
phishing, data breaches, DDoS Attacks, insider threats, and business email
compromise. Therefore, it is necessary for healthcare organizations to
adopt a multi-faceted, sophisticated approach to security such as educating
healthcare staff, restricting access to data & applications, implementing
data usage controls, log and monitoring use, encrypting data at rest and in

3. transit, securing mobile devices of staffs, mitigate connected device risks,
conduct regular risk assessments, back up data to a secure, offsite location,
compliance to HIPAA’s privacy and security rules and more.
Let us look at some of the main reasons why healthcare is one of
the biggest targets for cyber-attacks.
Patient data is Worth a Lot of
Money for hackers.
Healthcare organizations store an incredible amount of health records and
other patient-related information. However, this patient data is in high
demand in the black market and is worth a lot of money to hackers making
the Healthcare industry a prime target for cybercriminals. Hackers may be
able to gain access to thousands of patient’s personal information in a
single cyberattack. There have been instances in which hackers have sold
hacked patient information back to the hospital by using ransomware to
hold the hospital’s information hostage until they receive funds to return it.
Security of medical records is a primary concern for those working in the
healthcare industry due to the prevalence of patient-related information. All
healthcare organizations are legally obliged to secure their patient’s data.
Failing to do so will likely result in healthcare organizations ending up
spending lots of money on ransomware attacks. Furthermore, it’s becoming
clear that the cost of securing confidential patient data with solutions like
multi-factor authentication (MFA) is dramatically less than the pay-out from
ransomware or similar attacks. Furthermore, the multi-factor authentication
(MFA) solution helps authenticate the user with more than one piece of
data, and then it generates a unique password each time the user logs in. In
turn, this makes it harder for hackers to steal passwords and other
information.

4. Healthcare Staff is often aren't
prepared to deal with cyber
threats.
To enhance healthcare cybersecurity resilience and minimize cyber risks,
medical professionals must be trained to be better prepared for all the
healthcare cybersecurity risks they will likely encounter. However, medical
professionals are usually undertrained, and it’s can be pretty challenging to
educate and inform the medical staff about cyber threats as they have
competing priorities in varied roles and time limitations.
Healthcare staff must be familiarized with basic online protection, best
practices and training to identify common Cybersecurity and medical
device risks as medical devices usually collect, store, and transmit protected
healthcare information over the network, posing a security risk to patient
information.
To empower medical staff, it would be beneficial to provide a simple user
interface and a secure network that is quick and easy to access.
Furthermore, solutions like SSO and MFA continue to gain popularity as
they use a one-time code – adding additional security layers without
requiring the user to know anything more than their own login credentials.
Medical devices are an easy
entry point for hackers.
Medical devices are a convenient entry point for attackers. Despite the
numerous benefits of technological advances in the healthcare sector,
cybercriminals take advantage of these developments. Medical devices like
drug dispensers, ECG monitors, x-rays, insulin pumps, defibrillators, remote
monitoring devices and many more can be used by hackers as a means to
launch an attack on their connected servers and steal confidential data.

5. In a worst-case scenario, hackers can either shut down or take complete
control over the medical device, which would prevent healthcare
organizations from providing life-saving treatment to patients. Medical
devices are an easy target since they don’t come with the same level of
security as devices such as computers. Unfortunately, most hospitals are
unable to maintain their security due to the fact that they have so many
devices, and all of their networks are potential access points for hackers.
Staff Accessing Data Remotely
At times, staff members may need remote access to information; these
circumstances create a new vulnerability for hackers to exploit. It is
dangerous to connect to devices remotely because devices are not always
secure, and employees may not be trained to handle cybersecurity threats
and secure devices. Additionally, just one hacked device can expose a
whole organization wide open.
Risk-based authentication (RBA) can be used by organizations whose staff
use multiple devices at the same time. Using this solution, IT staff can set
up policies that indicate whether a given device is at risk based on factors
such as the user, the location of the device and more. Furthermore, any
unusual activity is flagged to ensure sensitive patient information is never
exposed to unsafe devices.
Healthcare information needs
to be open and shareable.
At times, it is necessary for staff to have access to confidential patient data,
both locally & remotely, and on multiple devices. Due to the urgency of the
medical industry, staff members must be able to share information
immediately – there’s no time to pause and consider the security
implications of the devices they’re using. The primary concern here is that
the devices used to share information are not always secure.

6. If users access data remotely, they may need only certain privileges to
perform their tasks, not the access to whole system or full admin account
privileges. Such precautions reduce the chances of admin accounts being
compromised. For healthcare organizations, any solution that can save time
and money by automatically regulating user permissions without
compromising patient data is a must-have. A multi-factor authentication
solution ensures only authorized users can access sensitive data, preventing
attacks from compromised credentials or unauthorized users.
Legacy Technology makes it
vulnerable to attacks.
Financial constraints and a hesitancy to learn new systems have left many
healthcare organizations with outdated technology and legacy devices.
While new frameworks, IoT inventories, advanced connected medical device
inventories, and predictive maintenance, IoT systems may receive more
periodic updates to improve security than Legacy clinical devices.
Medical device manufacturers are not able to keep up with the escalating
vulnerabilities in the healthcare environment due to regulatory
requirements and software development cycles.
To ensure the security of their data information, healthcare organizations
must constantly adapt to the latest technologies that address the cyber
threats aimed at their connected medical devices and systems.
Conclusion
Cybersecurity risks in healthcare show no signs of slowing down. While the
future of healthcare is constantly evolving as new technologies emerge
faster than ever, so healthcare organizations must become more prepared
to thwart threats to their IT infrastructure as new technologies emerge.
Cybersecurity continues to pose challenges for the healthcare industry, so
industry leaders must invest time, effort, and resources to protect
themselves. Ensuring that all staff members have received adequate
training is one of the most important factors to keep in to consider.

7. Since cyber-attacks in healthcare are on the rise and becoming increasingly
sophisticated, getting outside expertise is critical for minimizing disruption
and maintaining the safety of your patients and employees. Sparity is one
such cybersecurity service provider that offers focused security solutions
that suit your specific organizational needs to help your organization
protect itself from cyber-attacks and grow in the years ahead.