Almost weekly, we see headlines about cyber incidents disrupting patient care, compromising patient privacy, or both. The growing interconnectedness of the healthcare ecosystem, combined with heavy reliance on third-party providers, is amplifying the impact of these incidents. This interconnectedness is not only expanding the attack surface but also increasing vulnerabilities across the entire sector, as seen in recent high-profile attacks on UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare and Ascension.
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Healthcare Cybersecurity | Healthcare Data Security | Ransomware | Hospital Security Breaches
How to Continuously Shield The Healthcare Ecosystem from Ongoing Cyberattacks
In today’s growing cyber-attack landscape, hospital systems have quickly become the prime target of cyber threats as they collect sensitive patient data, including social security numbers, insurance information, and health records—making such an attack particularly appealing to bad actors.
The impact of these attacks on healthcare organizations has resulted in disrupted operations, delayed patient care, compromised patient confidentiality, and significant financial losses. The impact of
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Safeguarding Your Health: 5 Ways Healthcare Organizations Can Navigate Cybersecurity Risks
The healthcare industry poses a unique set of challenges when it comes to its cybersecurity framework. Hospitals, doctors' offices, and local clinics are all home to vast amounts of sensitive patient and employee data. Hospitals alone store about 50 petabytes of sensitive data every year. In order to operate seamlessly and provide the best care possible, these healthcare havens need to ensure that their IT stack is robust. Cyber threats are rampant and have the potential to jeopardize patient
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Penalizing Hospitals Won’t Stop Ransomware: Why Collaboration, Not Fines, is Key to Healthcare Cybersecurity
The recent $50 million initiative announced by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) can’t hurt in the ongoing battle against ransomware in the healthcare sector.
This investment is aimed at strengthening the cybersecurity defenses of hospitals nationwide, protecting sensitive patient data, and enhancing the resilience of healthcare systems against cyber threats. However, I must emphasize that while $50 million is a step in the right direction, it is merely a drop in
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Upgrade Hospital Cybersecurity with Passwordless, Phishing-Resistant MFA
In February 2024, the Change Healthcare ransomware attack shut down healthcare billing and authorization systems for providers across the nation, substantially impacting business systems, finances and patient care. United HealthGroup, the parent company of Change Healthcare, estimates that losses so far have topped $872 million, including a $22 million ransom payment and other direct and indirect costs related to the event. The attack also exposed some 124 million patient records, spurring a
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Cybersecurity: Building a Resilient Healthcare Practice in the Face of Cyber Threats
A healthy patient-provider relationship is the foundation for delivering quality healthcare, yet increasingly occurring cyberattacks have negatively impacted patient health outcomes, data security, and care operations. With the recent cybersecurity breaches causing disruptions to operations and workflows that require a shift to manual and paper-based processes, providers must take all necessary technical steps to protect their patients, staff, and practice reputation from potential
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RansomHub Leaks 175GB of Data from Clinical Research Institute
What You Should Know:
- The Baim Institute for Clinical Research, a leading non-profit academic research organization, has fallen victim to a significant ransomware attack, according to Safety Detective’s cybersecurity team. The cyberattack, perpetrated by the RansomHub group, resulted in the theft and subsequent leak of 175 GB of sensitive data.
- The stolen data includes a wide range of confidential information, including clinical trial programs, financial data, patient information, and
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HHS Launches Reorganization, Renames ONC, Stronger Focus on AI, Cybersecurity, Data
What You Should Know:
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a significant reorganization aimed at enhancing its capabilities in technology, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence (AI).
- This strategic move is designed to address the growing complexities and opportunities within the healthcare and human services landscape.
Key Changes and New Roles
Historically, responsibilities for technology, data, and AI policy were dispersed across
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Healthcare Organizations at Risk of Data Breach Due to Insecure File Sharing Practices
What You Should Know:
- A new report by Metomic, a data security company, reveals concerning vulnerabilities in how healthcare organizations handle sensitive data.
- The report, titled "Healthcare Data Crisis - Uncovering the Alarming Gaps in Data Security and Compliance," highlights the prevalence of insecure file-sharing practices that put patient information at risk.
Key Findings:
Exposed PII: A staggering 25% of publicly shared files contain Personally Identifiable
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Securing Your Hospital Network: Vendor Solutions Beyond Encryption
Modern healthcare environments are charged with processing massive amounts of patient data in tandem with an extensive network of connected clinical and administrative devices that can be infiltrated by hackers to access the entire system and hold mission-critical and patient-related information and services hostage. The robust data sets that can be exposed as well as the ensuing repercussions to reputation and profit means that the average cost of a healthcare data breach in 2022 was US$10.1
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