Healthcare cybersecurity still a cause for concern

Recent study findings suggest that healthcare cybersecurity is still a cause for concern, with the healthcare industry itself a prime target for cybercriminals.

Underfunding and a lack of understanding by bosses means there are still huge gaps and vulnerabilities when it comes to healthcare cybersecurity, putting countless people’s private and sensitive medical data at risk of leaks and hacks.

It’s a simple case of pace: the healthcare industry doesn’t appear to be able to keep up to speed with the pace of the cybercriminals who are targeting them.

Cybercriminals outpacing healthcare cybersecurity

Cybercriminals are simply outpacing healthcare cybersecurity, with some recent findings suggesting that as many as 90pc of healthcare organisations in some areas have suffered a breach. Hundreds of millions of medical records worldwide have been exposed as a result of targeted attacks against the healthcare industry on the whole, which is a lucrative business for the likes of fraudsters.

Healthcare budgets are always an issue. Our own NHS is struggling to meet the growing demands of the UK population when it comes to medical care itself, leaving healthcare cybersecurity in the backseat.

Healthcare cybersecurity knowledge lacking

Healthcare cybersecurity knowledge is also thought to be lacking as well. Some heath bosses may not be savvy enough to fully understand the risks and how to deal with them, and some healthcare organisations reportedly don’t have strong enough cybersecurity which has also been blamed on a simple lack of understanding.

There may also be not enough people working in healthcare cybersecurity to truly mount an effective defence against increasing attacks that are becoming more and more sophisticated all the time.

Last year’s WannaCry attack was a clear example as to how a lack of understanding put our NHS at risk, as the malicious software specifically targeted old and outdated systems, which some parts of the NHS still use.

Healthcare cybersecurity must be a priority

Healthcare cybersecurity must be a priority, although we appreciate that it’s easier said than done when funding and resources remain a serious issue.

In the absence of top-quality systems and security, the healthcare industry may be plagued to remain at the top of the table in terms of data breaches and hacks, which is made worse by the fact that these organisations hold particularly personal and sensitive data.

We represent a lot of victims for healthcare data breaches as they’re one of the most common scenarios. This is a fact that must change as soon as possible.

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