Cyber attacks on healthcare facilities can put patients’ safety at risk. Many medical facilities do not take adequate steps to protect the data they collect and maintain. Cyber security attacks put patients’ safety at risk in addition to threatening the security of medical facilities. Information protection is now essential for any organisation or institution to be able to function in the era of digitalization. This blog will look into the main challenges the medical sector is facing today.
The healthcare sector must safeguard its endpoints, databases, and networks. There are many different kinds of digital services available to healthcare organisations, including electronic health record systems, e-prescribing systems, computerised order or appointment systems, and thousands of gadgets that could be threats. It is also accountable for its patients’ and employees’ medical and financial information. The term “medjacking,” which refers to cyber security assaults targeted at linked medical equipment, was used to describe the hijacking of medical devices. It might include medjacking portable X-ray equipment, vital-sign monitors, ventilators, and others.
5 main cyber security vulnerabilities of the medical sector
Patient privacy protection
Remote access to patients’ records
Electronic Patients’ Records meeting ransomware attacks
IoT medical devices lacking proper security controls
Insufficient cyber security training
It was reported that the healthcare sector has internal actor breaches exceeded by external actor breaches. In August, 2019, hundreds of dental practices were affected by ransomware. According to the Data Breach Investigation report, healthcare suffered a 71% increase in breaches in 2020 over 2019. The human factor remains one of the main causes of cyber security breaches.
3 main types of cyber security attacks in the medical sector
Errors
Web application attacks
System intrusion
There are a variety of cyber security policies and laws already in existence. Among these fundamental cyber security measures are:
- Anti-virus
- Anti-malware
- Anti-spam
- Anti-phishing
- Data backup
- Data encryption
- Incident response plan
- Mobile device security
- Password security
- Cyber security training
What further actions can the medical sector take to solve the cyber security issues?
It is important for healthcare organisations to train their staff about cyber security and to create a culture of security within an organisation. By doing so, it will be able to reduce security breaches, improve your overall cyber security posture, and improve the general level of cyber security education in the industry. It will increase the likelihood of protecting the confidentiality and integrity of important patient data.
Get in touch to discover more about creating a cyber security culture in the healthcare industry.
