Over the past few years, the healthcare industry has been fighting off cyber criminals from all angles. With reports revealing that healthcare firms were hit with four times the global average of cyber attacks across 2023 – experiencing over 1500 cyber attacks per week in the first three quarters of the year- it is clear that the industry is operating in an increasingly dangerous cyber landscape.

But why is the healthcare industry in the firing line, and what can healthcare providers do to ensure that they remain protected against cybersecurity threats and keep operations running smoothly?

High stakes, low levels of security

The first step in mitigating cyber threats is to understand why healthcare providers are being targeted in the first place.

From patient electronic medical records to payment information – healthcare providers store a vast amount of highly sensitive information. If cyber criminals are able to gain access to this data, they could leverage it for a range of malicious benefits. Whether they decide to sell this information on the dark web or leverage it to engage in identity theft or financial fraud – if this information falls into the wrong hands, the consequences can be catastrophic. As well as this, cyber criminals are very aware that if they are able to gain access to this highly sensitive information, healthcare providers will be more likely to pay their ransom demands, making them even more vulnerable to an attack.

A report from VMO2 revealed that 77% of healthcare providers still use legacy technology. These outdated technologies make healthcare providers an even more lucrative target for cybercriminals, given they are easier for malicious actors to infiltrate and exploit, as their creation pre-dates the emergence of the more sophisticated security threats we see today. Unless healthcare providers embrace digital transformation, they remain a sitting duck.

The direct result of cyber criminals targeting healthcare providers by disrupting their operations causes significant issues for the healthcare system – directly impacting patients. Take the recent attack on the NHS as an example – this attack caused 3,396 outpatient appointments and 1,255 elective procedures to be cancelled since the attack occurred at the beginning of June and also caused the NHS to put out a public appeal for O-type blood as the cyber attack delayed blood transfusions.

Outdated legacy systems are making cyber criminals’ jobs even easier, allowing them to easily extract data for financial benefits. This creates an urgency for the sector to update its security credentials, or face the continuous threat of an attack.

How healthcare providers can fortify their defenses

With the number of attacks on healthcare providers continuing to rise, organizations must consider how they can ensure they are well equipped to stay afloat during the growing cyber crime wave before they are lost altogether.

Phishing attacks are one of the most common types of cyber threat that the healthcare sector specifically faces, and there are many different ways that healthcare providers can mitigate these attacks. Firstly, healthcare providers should utilize anti-spoofing software which can identify and drop any packets with an IP address that is hidden behind one interface, but is actually from a different interface altogether. For example, if an employee received an email from a threat actor posing to be their manager or even a colleague, anti-spoofing software is able to detect that the packet has an external IP address and block it accordingly. 

For an added layer of defense, healthcare providers should also utilize email verification and security software. These solutions automatically alert the relevant parties when any emails pretending to be from inside an organization are actually coming from outside of an organization. On top of this, this software can be programmed to flag certain key phrases such as “transfer funds” and alert relevant parties – making it the perfect tool to mitigate phishing attacks.

Another type of software that healthcare providers should invest in to help prevent phishing attacks is secure email solutions. These solutions allow sensitive documents or emails to be shared securely and will prompt the recipient for a unique password before providing them with access to the email. This is a great way of preventing sensitive emails from being intercepted by threat actors which can then be used to gain access to a business.

As the healthcare industry continues to remain a key target for cyber criminals, malicious actors are beginning to take more creative routes to exploiting these organizations. The most recent attack that the NHS faced involved a threat actor infiltrating Synnovis, which provides key clinical services to the NHS, rather than a direct attack on the NHS itself. Healthcare providers should take this as a warning to ensure there are no loopholes within their supply chain for threat actors to exploit, implementing security measures which are up to scratch.

Finally, healthcare providers must invest in continuous and in-depth cybersecurity training sessions for their team, as a business’ cybersecurity is only as strong as its least cyber-savvy employee. Adopting a box ticking, “one and done” approach to training isn't sufficient, and businesses must take sufficient steps to ensure all employees are educated on both new and emerging threats.

With the healthcare industry remaining firmly in the firing line due to its critical role in public health, these organizations must act now and fortify their defenses before they become nothing more than a cautionary tale.

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