Are you concerned about the privacy of your patient’s data? As hackers further develop the complexity of the strategies they use, healthcare organizations have no choice but to enforce fierce cybersecurity procedures. Continue reading to see why evolving cybersecurity threats are becoming a more concerning issue for healthcare organizations.
Why Healthcare is a Prime Target
Healthcare is a prime target for cyberattacks because of the high-value information organizations hold within their databases. This information is worth more for hackers to resell due to the density and intricacy of the information. Hackers prefer to attack healthcare organizations over other organizations since there are more opportunities to carry out a successful attack. Healthcare organizations store personal health information (PHI), which is like gold, or more likely bitcoin, to hackers.
What is PHI?
PHI is the information that a healthcare organization holds regarding their patients. PHI includes demographic information, medical histories, and insurance information. Other personal health information includes:
- Name
- Address
- Birthdate/Admission Date
- Phone Number
- Email Address
- Medical Record Number
- Social Security Number
- Vehicle Identifiers (Your License Plate)
- Full Face photographs
- Biometric ID’s (Fingerprints)
- IP Address
- Device Identifiers and Serial Numbers
Healthcare organizations keep highly sensitive data, making it a prime target for hackers. If your organization lacks advanced cybersecurity protections, you are leaving the door open for hackers to deploy ransomware and other cyber attacks.
Threat of Evolving Cybersecurity Attacks
It’s no surprise how much ransomware has evolved in the past few years, seeing that ransomware attacks hit an all-time high in 2021. Here are two types of emerging ransomware that hackers are prominently using to attack healthcare organizations:
- Remote Medical Access Ransomware
With the emerging need for remote medical access, many patients and organizations have opened the door for an increased risk of cyber attacks. Accessing sensitive health information from different devices in varying geographic location puts your information directly in the path of hackers if your network is not properly secured.
- IOT Connected Medical Device Ransomware
Medical devices that are connected to the internet of things are prominent for ransomware attacks. In the past, hospitals have faced unfortunate legal situations due to their devices being hacked and exploited. You can avoid facing legal and financial consequences by properly securing your IOT devices and the networks they connect to.
An organization that lacks the proper cybersecurity training and employee standards has a higher chance of being attacked. Your employees are your first line of defense against ransomware attacks. Be sure to properly train employees regularly regarding what is expected of them for keeping sensitive data safe. Make sure to have a plan you are able to execute quickly and efficiently in the time of an attack. Your incident response and recovery plan could save your organization from severe repercussions like customer distrust and financial burdens.
How to Protect Your Patient’s Data
There are many strategies to take to better protect your patient’s data. Here are some common methods many healthcare organizations use to better protect sensitive data:
- Back Up Your Patient’s Data
- Employ Multi-Factor Authentication
- Train Your Employees
- Conduct Regular Risk Assessments
- Secure ALL Network and IOT Devices
- Encrypt Data at Rest and in Transit
- Log and Monitor Data Usage
- Implement Data Usage Controls
On top of using these strategies to protect your organization, you should invest into high quality cybersecurity monitoring services. Cybersecurity monitoring services gives you enterprise level protection, no matter how small your organization is. Healthcare organizations need cybersecurity to reduce their chances of a ransomware attack.
Stay Secure with Kyber Security
As the cyber threat landscape constantly evolves, your security measures should be one step ahead. Kyber Security has dedicated professionals experienced in protecting your organization from ever increasing cyber threats. We will work tirelessly to keep your company protected from cyber-attacks.
