Confronting One Of Healthcare’s Biggest Challenges: Cyber Risk

Online attackers are keen to steal healthcare data or hold it for ransom for a simple reason—the return on investment. That’s one reason why healthcare firms are one of cyber criminals’ favorite target. In 2017, a typical healthcare organization suffered an average of 32,000 intrusion attacks per day, compared to 14,300 per day at organizations in other industries. Personal health information is 50 times more valuable on the black market than financial information, according to Cybersecurity Ventures, and stolen patient health records fetch upwards of $50 per record (10 to 20 times more than credit card information).

One big cause: Healthcare security teams unintentionally leave gaps in online security by not implementing security tools which, while important, might slow or block the flow of medical data that clinicians need at a moment’s notice. That’s a scary scenario for patients and clinicians, who are caught between the need to maintain access to critical-care machines and data, while also pushing back against hackers intent on making a quick buck.

The full Forbes article can be viewed at this link.