Healthcare cybersecurity is an increasing problem for organizations. Recent years have seen hacking and IT security incidents steadily increase and many healthcare organizations have struggled to secure their network perimeter and keep cybercriminals away.
2015 was the worst year to date for the healthcare sector data breaches. More patient and health plan member records were illegally taken in 2015 than in the previous 6 years combined, and by quite some distance. More than 113 million records were infiltrated in 2015 alone, 78.8 million of which were stolen in just one cyberattack. 2016 saw more healthcare data breaches reported than any other year, and 2017 looks set to be another new mark for the record books.
Healthcare providers now have to safeguard more linked medical devices than ever before and there has been a proliferation of IoT devices in the healthcare sector. The attack surface is growing and hackers are creating more sophisticated tools and techniques to attack healthcare groups, gain access to data and hold data and networks to ransom.
The healthcare sector has been slow to reply and has lagged behind other industries when it comes to cybersecurity. However, cybersecurity budgets have grown, new technology has been purchased, and healthcare grown are getting better at blocking attacks and keeping their networks safe.
The articles in this healthcare cybersecurity section are aimed at assisting HIPAA covered entities choose on the best technologies to protect their networks from attack and develop effective policies, procedures and security awareness training programs to prevent expensive data breaches.
Our healthcare cybersecurity section includes articles and new reports relating to:
New weaknesses that could be exploited to obtain access to healthcare networks
Security alerts about new attack vectors currently being used by hackers obtain access to healthcare networks and data
Details of new malware and ransomware that threaten the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health data
Healthcare cybersecurity best steps
New guidelines for HIPAA covered groups on data and device security
Latest updates from the Healthcare Industry Cybersecurity Task Force
Details of cybersecurity frameworks that can be implemented by healthcare organizations to improve security posture
Advice linked to the HIPAA Security Rule and the security measures that must be applied to secure medical devices, networks and healthcare data
The most recent healthcare cybersecurity surveys, reports and white papers