Cybersecurity remains the top criterion for the healthcare sector, as it is the most targeted industry, incurring the highest average breach costs ($9.2 million), with slowest response time (287 days).first
As a healthcare community, we have faced new challenges over the past 24 months. While the pandemic has created many new barriers for the healthcare sector, it has also become a catalyst for innovation and transformation in the healthcare sector and has accelerated change.
Examples of this change include:
- Hybrid and remote work is now common
- The adoption of virtual care and telehealth is widespread
- IoT acceleration and remote patient monitoring
- Enhancing the digitization of healthcare
- Intense focus on the digital patient experience
With the change, new security requirements
Healthcare is evolving into a new era where nearly everything is connected through digital technologies to improve the way healthcare is delivered to patients. The future of healthcare is being driven by digital transformation to develop our provider healthcare delivery models, with a strong focus on the ability to interoperability by open standards. This ongoing digitization process will continue to advance and introduce new security risks as the threat landscape becomes increasingly complex.
Health systems and hospitals continue to evaluate and deploy new models for providing care outside of hospital walls, such as telemedicine clinics, ambulatory surgery centers, and medical care. economy at home. The digital platforms connecting these locations can be regional, national or international. While this connectivity presents a huge opportunity for transformation, it also creates broader attack surfaces for financially motivated threat actors.
Healthcare has experienced the increasing frequency and severity of cybersecurity breaches. Cyberattacks in the healthcare sector more than doubled in 2020, with ransomware accounting for 28% of all attacks. It’s easy to see why the data-rich healthcare industry is a target for the bad guys.2
Cybersecurity breaches for healthcare organizations and patients involving the theft of protected health information (PHI), personally identifiable information (PII), ransomware attacks, and the ability to attack and control medical devices. Violations can lead to longer patient stays, delays in procedures, and diversions to other facilities.
Medical device security It is also a concern for healthcare providers as bad actors target vulnerable unpatched systems and improperly configured devices. Connected medical devices can account for up to three-quarters (74%) of the devices on a healthcare organization’s network.2
The rise of smart and connected medical devices will only continue into the future. From 2020 to 2028, the smart medical device market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20.1%.3
To further complicate the landscape, healthcare organizations must consider standards and regulatory requirements such as those found with HIPAA, ISO, NIST, GDPR, and PCI DSS. To protect critical patient data and clinical systems, many healthcare IT leaders have recently adopted Zero Trust Security Framework to enhance network security defenses. While it is both a strategy and an architectural model, organizations need to realize that it is also a journey.
Cisco definition Zero Trust as a holistic approach to securing all access rights across an organization’s applications and environments, from any user, device, and location. It protects the workforce, workload, and workplace.
Five ways to improve the security posture in 2022
In summary, the overarching mission for CISOs and their security teams is to protect their organizations while maintaining business continuity.
Here are five ways healthcare organizations can improve their security this year:
- Implement endpoint and malware protection for devices and users
- Automate security and IT tasks to reduce threat risk
- Apply a trustless security framework to help prevent unauthorized access
- Check incident response plans, perform regular risk assessments and top tables with business alignment
- Leverage threat intelligence tools to proactively identify, mitigate, and remediate security threats
As the world’s largest provider of networking, collaboration, and security technologies, Cisco is committed to addressing the security challenges of the healthcare industry. We encourage you to explore our cybersecurity solutions for more in-depth healthcare in Portfolio Explorer.
The source
first Modern Healthcare, Scripps Health Cyber Attack Costs Company $113 Million, Aug 11, 2021
2 Forrester New Wave: Connected Medical Device Security Q2 2020, June 1, 2020
3 Data Bridge Market Research: Smart Medical Devices Market 20.1% CAGR in 2021
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