Are You Prepared for the Next Wave of Healthcare Cyber Threats?

In the current digital landscape, where organizations highly depend on online communications, cybercriminals are become more than just a nuisance. They are targeting every kind of institution across every sector, which means contrary to their traditional ways, they aren’t just stopping at making finance or IT firms their targets, but they’re also targeting hospitals, clinics, as well as telemedicine apps. Hackers are well aware that the healthcare sector is most vulnerable and likely to give in to their ransom demands as the medical professionals have to deal with emergency cases of patients and can hardly afford any delays or interruptions. Also, the patient’s data & information are extremely sensitive, and the healthcare sector has a responsibility to keep it private ensuring it is safe from unwanted outside access.

It also doesn’t help that a large number of healthcare centres and institutions continue to operate with IT systems & equipment that are long outdated, along with the lack of adequate cybersecurity measures by most healthcare firms, and overworked IT personnel. Because of these, and several other factors, the healthcare industry is becoming potentially the most preferred target for an increasing number of digital cyberattacks.
In this blog, we take a look into the existing state of the cybersecurity landscape at present in the healthcare sector. We will help you understand the risks and the ways to counter certain specific kinds of cyberattacks. We’ll try to find the security needs of the healthcare sector because many managers do not fully grasp the magnitude of risk to their organization and why they really need to be ready & equipped with the measures to tackle the upcoming wave of healthcare cyberattacks.

Why is healthcare an easy target for hackers?

  • Can’t afford long delays – It can be fatal and potentially even life-threatening for the patients if the institution can not access certain resources or data urgently needed at a particular time.
  • Outdated Software & Equipment – The Older and Legacy Systems are much easier for cybercriminals to exploit as the hackers orchestrate their attacks with advanced methods.
  • Under higher pressure – Because of their accountability to the patients, hospitals and medical institutes are more likely to succumb to the pressure that is built with disruptions in medical operations and may end up paying ransom to cybercriminals to unlock their digital assets & data.

The rising amount of ransomware attacks in the healthcare industry is a sign that there is an urgent need for more advanced & updated systems, strong data backup plans, and real-time threat monitoring.

The Role of AI in Healthcare Cybersecurity –

AI tools are turning out to be really helpful in the healthcare sector’s battle against cyber threats. With its powerful features, Artificial Intelligence or AI is emerging as a strong armour for healthcare facilities with capabilities such as –

  • Ability to identify suspicious network behaviour much quicker than humans.
  • Reduces reaction time by automating threat response.
  • Analyses patterns in electronic health records (EHR) and detects fraud or modifications.

AI with its proactive solutions and speedy operations is becoming a game changer in healthcare cybersecurity and like in many other sectors it looks promising to solving many of the healthcare industry’s cybersecurity problems.

Phishing Attacks Targeting Healthcare Workers –

Phishing attacks are simple yet extremely effective in damaging their target. With just one careless click, a malicious email may become the cause of exposing an organization’s entire system.

Why is Healthcare Staff often Targeted?

  • Phishing is difficult to detect because of high volume of emails.
  • Employees can sometimes be overworked and distracted which can give an entry point to phishing and other cyber threats.
  • In medical institutions too, there is not enough exposure or stress given on providing IT awareness training.

To decrease the risks, organizations must stress on cybersecurity best practices for healthcare and take initiatives to provide continuing training and awareness to its personnel.

The Vulnerabilities of IoT Healthcare –

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), which includes wearable monitors to smart infusion pumps, is revolutionizing patient care but is also prone to certain new kinds of risks.

These vulnerabilities or risks with IoT in Healthcare include –

  • A lot of devices don’t have inbuilt authentication or encryption.
  • Devices often tend to have outdated firmware.
  • Devices operate across several networks with inadequate access control.

These devices can become entry points for hackers if IoT security in Healthcare is inadequate.

Emerging Cyberthreats in Telemedicine

Telemedicine has made access to healthcare more convenient, but it also has also increased certain vulnerabilities.

The risks include:

  • video conferencing tools lacking adequate security features.
  • Mobile apps that are also not protected or secure enough.
  • Unencrypted medical data transmission.

Zero Trust Security Approach for Medical Facilities –

The “trust but verify” is an old approach, while now it is the model of “Zero Trust” that has been applied rather effectively in the contemporary business security. This model is based on the assumption that any attempt to gain access, whether it is from within the organization’s network or from the outside, it has to be treated as potentially dangerous.

  • Constant, regular user & devices verification is a key tenet, or one of the fundamental aspects of zero trust.
  • Another of its core principles is minimal or least privileged access is given to data and systems.
  • Micro-segmentation of Network zones

For the medical facilities, Zero Trust model is ideal as it ensures more stringent control over how many users have access, and what particular resources or data is accessed by whom.

Financial & Legal Consequences of Inaction –

Your firm could potentially lose millions if you ignore the escalation of certain risks.

  • One of the hidden costs of cyberattacks healthcare facilities is you may have to pay legal fines and penalties.
  • You can lose many potential revenue opportunities as a result of downtime.
  • Long-term harm includes a dent in your brand image and a decline in consumers’ trust.
  • High costs involved in recovery and forensic investigations.

Inaction can just not be afforded, particularly in a sector such as healthcare & medicine where along with the sensitive data you actually have people’s lives at stake.

Closing Remarks—

Choose a reliable partner with a good track record so you can rest assured about your safety against ransomware as well as all other cybersecurity threats with your partner taking over the security infrastructure of your company. We at Synergy IT are experienced and fully equipped with the arsenal to serve as your cybersecurity defense, as we have been serving clients with their cybersecurity needs for over 2 decades across North America. We provide complete healthcare ransomware protection with the most advanced security monitoring tools powered by AI. Besides, we have worked with organizations across many sectors which includes the healthcare sector. So whether it is a hospital or a clinic, we are well aware of the particular challenges that healthcare institutions may have to confront in the fast-changing cyberthreat landscape. The question is no more about whether your company can become a target for cybercriminals but when it might become their next and that is why we encourage you to give us a call and get a free quote and assessment from our experts about your security posture.

Contact : 

Synergy IT solutions Group US : 167 Madison Ave Ste 205 #415, New York, NY 10016 

 Canada : 439 University Avenue, 5th Floor, Toronto, ON M5G 1Y8  

US :  +1(917) 688-2018 

Canada : +1(905) 502-5955 

 Email  :  

info@synergyit.com 

sales@synergyit.com 

 info@synergyit.ca 

sales@synergyit.ca 

Website : https://www.synergyit.ca/   ,  https://www.synergyit.com/

 

Location: North America

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