Experts advised bolstering cybercrime measures for the Healthcare Sector

December 10, 2021
Bolstering Cybercrime Measures Healthcare Sector Ransomware Data Breach Vulnerability

New studies revealed that the healthcare sector is among the top industries in the world that are targeted by cybercriminals. Despite the idea of how corrupt it is for threat actors to attack such a significant sector, it is gradually becoming a reality.

Experts say that cyberattacks against the healthcare sector are far more than just hacking computers and data stored in those. It also risks the lives of vulnerable patients and staff involved within the different types of care under the healthcare sector, including mental health facilities up to pharmaceutical and diagnostic firms.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic has spread globally, the healthcare sector has been unfortunately plagued with cyberattacks. From more than 235 cyber-attacks observed by a security expert, over 10 million healthcare records are found to have been stolen through hacking attacks, including medical data, financial data, social security numbers, health insurance data, HIV test results, and confidential information of medical donors among others.

Even though the data mentioned above are only a fraction of the full scale of the problem, experts see it as an important indicator of the upsurge in cybercrime against the healthcare sector.

One of the cybercrime types that experts have investigated is ransomware attacks. The criminals encrypt the IT systems of the victim organisation and demand a ransom payment in exchange for a decryption key.

 

The vulnerability of the healthcare sector is furthered by the threats of these cyberattacks, especially with their dependency on technology that links to the criticality of their daily operations’ nature.

 

Threats such as ransomware attacks endanger the lives of people involved in a healthcare institution. A study that supports this is how 15% of ransomware attacks to hospitals have resulted in patients being transferred to other facilities. 20% has caused people to cancel their checkups and appointment schedules, and several healthcare firms were forced to disrupt their operations for many months.

For these important reasons, experts are pushing the healthcare sector to bolster and invest in its protocols and measures regarding cybersecurity. One factor that they suggest looking at is by hiring trained people and human resources that could focus on each institution’s cybersecurity. Moreover, it is the due diligence of the sector to secure people’s safety and rights to healthcare proactively.

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