For healthcare organizations that handle a lot of patient data, including very sensitive information, cloud computing is a revolution to data storage. Cloud computing in healthcare lowers data storage costs (compared to the old paper-storage era), enables easy retrieval of patient data and also improves the privacy of patient information. This has inevitably led to a rise in the adoption of cloud computing in healthcare. In fact, the healthcare cloud computing market is projected to exceed $92 billion by 2027, according to Research and Markets.

However, the increasing adoption of cloud computing in healthcare has led to serious cybersecurity concerns. Medical information is of far greater value than financial information. However, most healthcare facilities lag in terms of data protection considering the enormous responsibility they have. This article explores the current spate of cyber attacks on healthcare companies and recommends pragmatic solutions for better security.

Malware and Ransomware Attacks

The most pressing cybersecurity threats in the past few years are ransomware attacks. One of the heaviest attacks in recent times was against three DCH hospitals in Alabama. Eventually, the hospital system recovered their files from the attackers only after parting with an undisclosed sum of money. According to the 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report (DBIR), ransomware accounted for over 70% of malware attacks suffered by healthcare outfits last year.

Assumptions that such attacks only affect large healthcare organizations are wrong. According to the RiskIQ brief on Ransomware in the Health Sector 2020, small hospitals and healthcare centers are the most often targeted. The reason is simple: they have the least budget and resources for security, becoming soft targets for attackers. In the absence of official figures, experts estimate that at least 85% of small- or medium-sized hospitals lack a single IT security person on staff.

Solutions: In view of (Read more...)