Cyber Security in Healthcare Industry: Challenges and Solutions
In their pursuit of digital transformation, the healthcare and public health (HPH) sectors have consistently welcomed technological advancement. Even before the COVID-19 epidemic, hospitals and medical institutions required digital solutions and collaboration tools to communicate with both patients and employees.
However, these new technologies have merely increased their attack surface, which bad actors are taking advantage of. Healthcare cybersecurity dangers range from data breaches to ransomware to insider threats.
Furthermore, monitoring legal compliance in the healthcare industry is quite difficult. Because of the volume and velocity of data generated by hospitals and medical institutes around the world, they sit on data lakes. An unprotected hospital server is ripe for a malpractice complaint. Regulation is stringent and complicated.
This is why healthcare providers must implement a hospital cybersecurity and compliance solution to safeguard sensitive data.
Cyberattacks and Security Issues in the Healthcare Sector
Healthcare cybersecurity should be especially concerned about the following threats:
- Ransomware
Criminals not only encrypt data and demand money to decrypt it, but they also restrict access to the entire medical system, making surgical instruments and life support equipment ineffective. - Phishing
Malware can infiltrate computer systems via links or attachments in phishing emails, social media posts, or text messages, quickly spreading throughout the network. - Network vulnerability attacks
To gain access to patient data, cybercriminals use HTTPS spoofing, ARP cache poisoning, and other techniques to attack medical facilities’ wired and wireless networks. - Man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks
Cybercriminals spy on private (and vital) user information during data transfers or talks, resulting in severe losses and penalties for a violation of confidentiality.
- Data Breaches
In comparison, the healthcare industry has an unusually large amount of data breaches. Despite efforts to prevent these occurrences through frameworks such as HIPAA, cybersecurity gaps provide cyber attackers with access points through which they can continue to operate.
Cyberattacks Against Medical Devices
Healthcare IT specialists find it especially challenging to maintain security due to the vast number of networked medical equipment, many of which have varied specifications and come from different manufacturers. Even while medical devices do not necessarily hold a large amount of patient data, they can provide easy access points for hackers to servers containing large amounts of data. To limit the costs and harm caused by unauthorised access, the healthcare cybersecurity industry must prioritise maintaining these entry points safe and up to date.
Cybersecurity Solutions for the Healthcare Industry
As a healthcare cybersecurity solution, below are many security precautions that may be done as cybersecurity for hospitals and healthcare institutions to safeguard electronically protected health information (ePHI) by defending tools, digital systems, networks, and data against threats.
- Control of data consumption
Clinics should contain and monitor malicious file activity. They can accomplish this by putting in place systems that restrict data access, prevent unauthorised emails from being shared, and block copies to external sources, among other things. - Record data
Keep track of information in order to detect unauthorised access to patient data as soon as possible. Logs will let an organisation detect and close a speedy breach in the event of a cyberattack. - Impose stringent access restrictions
To safeguard patient data from illicit activities, they must utilise a password/PIN, cards and keys, face, fingerprint, or retina recognition. - Apply cutting-edge cryptography
Use contemporary cryptography to encrypt data during transmission and storage. Safe multiparty computation, Homorphic encryption, and distributed ledger systems are a few examples.
What Makes Cybersecurity in Healthcare so Challenging?
Any of the cybersecurity problems that any company faces, as well as specific challenges to the healthcare business, exist. They must defend against endpoint, database, and network assaults. They are in charge of protecting their patients’ and employees’ sensitive financial and medical data. They are frequently called upon to defend priceless intellectual property. They also encounter challenges that few other businesses do. Over the last ten years, the number of networked medical devices has skyrocketed. Almost all medical gadgets are web-enabled or linked to the operational network of the organisation.
Healthcare providers deploy more connected medical devices on a regular basis, accounting for up to 74% of all devices connected to a hospital’s network, according to healthcare cybersecurity statistics. Due to the prevalence of medical device hijacking, the term “mud jacking” is now often used to refer to assaults primarily targeting linked medical equipment.
Often, the patient’s life is dependent on the connected equipment. It can mean the difference between life and death if you can disable or alter them. They, like any other digital device, require updates to remain functioning and safe.
Some examples of connected medical equipment include crash cart equipment tracking, patient monitoring bracelets, ventilators, portable X-ray machines, and vital sign monitors. These devices communicate throughout the hospital network, providing clinicians with access to vital patient data stored in electronic health records. The transferred data allows doctors to provide more inexpensive healthcare. Doctors can work faster and more safely. Each of these gadgets acts as a gateway for cybercriminals.
