Why Hackers Have Their Sights Set on Healthcare

Why Hackers Have Their Sights Set on Healthcare

We see it time and time again, the headlines splashed along newspapers and email newsletters that a hospital or its network of offices have been hit in a cybersecurity attack. Now more than ever, we continue to expect that attackers will target nursing homes, doctors’ offices, and other medical facilities due to the immense pressure the industry is facing to modernize. While the advancements in technology are vital to ensuring better patient care, they also open doors for threat actors everywhere. The interconnectedness that comes with tying technology together at hospitals is also contributing to their vulnerability.

This creates a unique opportunity for MSPs and IT professionals to help the healthcare industry modernize their backup systems and overall security. Specifically, these teams must work closely with the healthcare IT teams to create an integrated approach to security, protecting critical patient information from threat actors looking for an easy target.

COVID-19 Ushered in a New Virtual Era

The pandemic brought with it a unique set of challenges that may seem obvious, but created a ripple effect that changed the way we view virtual life. With millions of people switching to remote work, a rise in telehealth and more; we saw that individuals became more comfortable sharing their information online – whether that was out of necessity or desire.

That influx was difficult to manage for the healthcare industry though – where systems were outdated, alongside budget and time constraints to update the legacy technology in place. According to a report in Security Magazine, there are three reasons why healthcare organizations experienced a spike in attacks: a high probability to pay ransom, the value of patient records, and often inadequate security. Patient data remains a prime target for threat actors who recognize its value – especially as it’s sold on the dark web.

Hackers Found Their Mark on Tech Targets

In the chaos that stemmed from the pivot to virtual life, hackers had easy pickings for vulnerabilities to exploit. Email phishing scams were one of the most prevalent opportunities for threat actors looking for a quick in. Whether it stems from a lack of training, someone not paying close attention or simply a mistake – phishing remains, even now, a major component of successful breaches. In an instant, a hacker gleans access to an overwhelming amount of individual and/or enterprise data. Given the antiquated systems in place, hospitals often don’t have the automatic tools to detect and mitigate phishing emails before they reach an individual’s inbox.

Another opportunity for hackers targeting healthcare became clear immediately – medical devices. In the same way that consumers have dozens of appliances or devices that need to be connected to their home Wi-Fi – so do hospitals and doctor’s offices. With attackers finding ways to breach network servers through medical devices that are connected, patient data is much easier to exploit. MRI machines and heart rate monitors are listed as weak links in the cyber defense of many hospitals.

Mitigating the Threat

With so many opportunities for hackers to exploit patients, healthcare professionals and hospital systems; it’s more crucial than ever for organizations to invest the time and effort into improving their security posture. This is especially true when weighing the consequences of a breach.

Not only are breaches expensive to fix, but with strict Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules – fines can be levied against organizations when HIPAA is violated. This personal health information (PHI) that is so heavily protected is both enticing for threat actors, but also gives them the upper hand in ransomware demand situations.

As the healthcare industry has proven to be a lucrative target for threat actors in recent years, we can expect there to continue to be an increase in breaches and ransomware attacks. That said, this is a prime opportunity for security professionals and MSPs to band together to mitigate these threat actors and their methods of attack. In knowing the most effective and often used attack style, healthcare providers can help support themselves and their stakeholders by implementing the right tools, as well as offering the proper training for their employees and patients to avoid exploitation via phishing emails or multi-factor authentication (MFA) attacks.

About the Author

Katya Ivanova is the chief sales officer at Acronis.

Featured

  • Mall of America Deploys AI-Powered Analytics to Enhance Parking Intelligence

    Mall of America®, the largest shopping and entertainment complex in North America, announced an expansion of its ongoing partnership with Axis Communications to deploy cutting-edge car-counting video analytics across more than a dozen locations. With this expansion, Mall of America (MOA) has boosted operational efficiency, improved safety and security, and enabled more informed decision-making around employee scheduling and streamlining transportation for large events. Read Now

  • Security Industry Association Launches New “askSIA” AI Tool

    The Security Industry Association (SIA) has unveiled a brand-new SIA member benefit – askSIA, a conversational AI agent designed to help users get the most out of their SIA membership, easily access SIA resources and find the latest information on SIA’s training and courses, reports and publications, events, certification offerings and more. SIA members can easily find askSIA by visiting the SIA homepage or looking for the askSIA icon in the top left of webpages. Read Now

    • Industry Events
  • Industry Embraces Mobile Access, Biometrics and AI

    A combination of evolving workplace dynamics, technology innovation and new user expectations is changing how people enter and interact with physical spaces. Access control is at the heart of these changes. Combined with biometrics and AI, mobile access control has become increasingly crucial for deploying entry solutions that are seamless, secure and adaptive to user needs. Read Now

  • Sustainable Video Solution Delivered for Landmark City of London Office Development

    An advanced, end-to-end video solution from IDIS, with a focus on reducing waste and costs, has helped a major office development in the City of London align its security with sustainability objectives. Read Now

  • DHS to End ‘Shoes-Off’ Travel Policy

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced a new policy today which will allow passengers traveling through domestic airports to keep their shoes on while passing through security screening at TSA checkpoints. Read Now

New Products

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • A8V MIND

    A8V MIND

    Hexagon’s Geosystems presents a portable version of its Accur8vision detection system. A rugged all-in-one solution, the A8V MIND (Mobile Intrusion Detection) is designed to provide flexible protection of critical outdoor infrastructure and objects. Hexagon’s Accur8vision is a volumetric detection system that employs LiDAR technology to safeguard entire areas. Whenever it detects movement in a specified zone, it automatically differentiates a threat from a nonthreat, and immediately notifies security staff if necessary. Person detection is carried out within a radius of 80 meters from this device. Connected remotely via a portable computer device, it enables remote surveillance and does not depend on security staff patrolling the area.