Duncan is an award-winning editor with greater than 20 years expertise in journalism. Having launched his tech journalism profession as editor of Arabian Computer News in Dubai, he has since edited an array of tech and digital advertising publications, together with Computer Business Review, TechWeekEurope, Figaro Digital, Digit and Marketing Gazette.
61% of firms within the healthcare trade suffered a cyberattack on their cloud infrastructure throughout the final 12 months, in comparison with 53% for different verticals.
This is in line with the 2022 Cloud Security Report by cybersecurity vendor Netwrix. Phishing was the commonest kind of assault reported, adopted by ransomware or different malware assaults, and focused assaults on cloud infrastructure.
Dirk Schrader, VP of safety analysis at Netwrix, stated: “The healthcare sector is a profitable goal for attackers as a result of the probabilities of success are increased. The first two years of the pandemic exhausted the trade. With affected person well being being the primary precedence for these organisations, IT safety sources are sometimes too stretched and are centered on sustaining solely probably the most essential features.
“Plus, the high value of data gives cyber criminals better opportunities at financial gain: they can either sell stolen sensitive medical information on the dark web or extort a ransom for ‘unfreezing’ the medical systems used to keep patients alive.”
An assault within the healthcare sector is extra prone to lead to monetary penalties. 32% of respondents from different industries report that an assault had no affect on their enterprise, whereas solely 14% of healthcare organisations say the identical. Unplanned bills to cowl safety gaps and compliance fines are the commonest kinds of harm that the healthcare sector faces on account of a cyberattack.
“Healthcare organisations plan to increase the share of their workload in the cloud from 38% to 54% by the end of 2023. Fast cloud adoption should be accompanied by relevant security measures and special attention to internet-of-things (IoT) devices and systems; for example, compromise of respirators or IV infusion devices can lead to physical harm to patients,” added Schrader.
“Network segmentation will help prevent one compromised device from impacting the entire system. IT teams must also strictly limit who – humans and machines – can access what data and systems according to the least-privilege principle, and regularly review and right-size those access rights.”
Other notable findings embrace:
- 86% of cloud assaults in healthcare sector result in monetary losses or different harm
- 73% of healthcare organisations retailer delicate knowledge within the cloud. The most typical kind (45%) is affected person or protected well being data.
- 59% of respondents say integration with current IT surroundings is the primary impediment for sooner cloud adoption in comparison with 41% among the many different industries.
- 48% contemplate contractors and companions with legit entry as the largest danger to knowledge safety within the cloud.