What You Should Know: - Proofpoint, Inc., a leading cybersecurity and compliance company, and Ponemon Institute, a top IT security research organization, today released the results of a new study on the effect of cybersecurity in healthcare. - The report, “Cyber Insecurity in Healthcare: The Cost and Impact on Patient Safety and Care,” found that 89% of the surveyed organizations experienced an average of 43 attacks in the past 12 months, almost one attack per week. More than 20% of the
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KLAS: Security & Privacy Consulting Services 2022
What You Should Know: - Cybersecurity attacks are on the rise, and healthcare organizations are especially at risk. Security vulnerabilities can lead to financial penalties imposed by OCR, damaged organization reputations, and the increased risk of patient safety and data being compromised. - A new report by KLAS examines several such firms (and one cross-industry firm) to determine who effectively assists in reducing risk, engages closely with clients, and exceeds expectations. Using
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Why There’s Renewed Interest In The Cloud for Healthcare
From the development of the EMR to the growth of telehealth, the digital environment for healthcare has evolved tremendously over the last few years. So, it’s no surprise that IT spending is set to increase by 12.3% for cloud computing, 9.7%, for digital transformation, and 9.7% for security software this year. Though healthcare organizations have historically been slower to adopt cloud, we’re now seeing renewed interest. Has the pandemic caused a reaction among IT leaders to
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EMPI/MPI: An End-to-End Approach to Patient Data Integrity
Maintaining patient data integrity is more complicated than ever; cybersecurity threats loom, patients are taking more ownership of their care (self-registration, for example) and health system merger activity is on the rise. It can make the quest for the ever-elusive 1% maximum duplicate rate seem, at times, unattainable. But a secure, accurate, and duplicate-free MPI/EMPI can be achieved. It just requires a multi-pronged approach to protect data throughout its journey into a health system
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Is Telehealth Healthcare’s Biggest Cyber Threat?
It’s time to get used to seeing your doctor from a digital screen, as virtual care is projected to expand well into the future. And while telehealth technology has proven to be highly beneficial in supporting the shift to virtual healthcare, it has also introduced a host of new vulnerabilities and opportunities for security breaches. Cybercriminals have always preyed on the healthcare industry, but with this virtual transition, the substantial increase in connectivity and network exposure has
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What Healthcare Leaders Need to Do Now About Ransomware
If ransomware is not a topic of conversation around any healthcare organization’s boardroom table, directors and senior executives may be exposing the organization (and themselves) to considerable risk. Here’s a guide to ransomware trends for 2022 and steps healthcare leaders can take to help protect their organizations. Ransomware trends in 2022 The risk of a ransomware attack in 2022 is substantial, with gangs specializing in targeting the healthcare sector. Last year saw dozens of
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Talking about Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities in Medical Devices Shouldn’t be Taboo
According to the National Vulnerability Database, 18,353 vulnerabilities were reported in 2020. That’s nearly three times the volume of vulnerabilities reported five years ago, and higher than any year in the previous two decades. Given the rise in connected devices, this increase is not entirely unexpected. If that’s the case, shouldn’t we be seeing more vulnerability disclosures related to medical devices? The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
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Escalating Cyberattacks on Healthcare Organizations Highlight Need for Security Interventions
Healthcare organizations have faced continual stress from heavy COVID-19 caseloads in 2020. Cyberattacks on their information networks also loomed as a serious threat, and the pressure to protect data is expected to grow this year, as more criminals target healthcare providers. Protecting patient data from unauthorized access has long been a regulatory prerequisite for healthcare organizations. But increasingly, cybercriminals see profit potential in attacking and crippling their networks,
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Death by Ransomware: Poor Healthcare Cybersecurity
If hackers attack your organization and you’re in an industry such as financial services, engineering, or manufacturing your risks are mostly monetary. But when it comes to healthcare cybersecurity, not only is there significant financial jeopardy, people’s health and wellbeing are also at risk so the stakes are much, much higher. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, there has been an almost 50 percent increase in healthcare cybersecurity data breaches between February
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COVID-19 Exposed The True Vulnerability of Healthcare Infrastructure
In 2019, 41 million patient records breached in 572 reported incidents at an average cost of $1.8 million per breach. These statistics are far from surprising with healthcare records selling for a reported average of $45 on the dark web. Unfortunately, the year 2020 aggravated these issues as COVID-19 exposed the true vulnerability of the healthcare infrastructure. Organizations not only had to manage the medical and financial impacts of the pandemic but also the security risks inherent in the
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