This blog post was updated on Jul 29, 2024
It was originally published on May 15, 2021
Healthcare businesses handle large amounts of sensitive information, which makes them a hot target for cybercriminals looking to steal data for identity theft, scams, and ransomware extortions. Every year, tens of millions of individuals are affected by breaches of unsecured protected health information. According to the data posted on the website run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Protected Health Information of over 35.9 million individuals was compromised in 2023 alone.
Dealing with data breaches is an expensive affair with a typical breach costing millions of dollars. According to IBM Security’s 2023 Cost of Data Breach Report, the average cost of a healthcare data breach is $4.45 million globally and $9.48 million in the United States. Therefore, healthcare businesses are especially vulnerable and need to invest heavily in cybersecurity and compliance to ensure their data is adequately protected.
In this blog post, we take a closer look at cybersecurity in healthcare to help you identify common threats and share best practices that will help you protect your healthcare business better.
Role Of Cybersecurity in Healthcare?
Healthcare organizations use technologies across a wide range of categories:
Specialized software such as EHR, e-prescribing, practice management, clinical decision support, computerized physician order entry systems, and many more.
Internet of Things (IoT) technologies including smart elevators, smart heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, remote patient monitoring devices, etc.
In many cases, they also use legacy systems that may include applications, operating systems, or devices.
In addition to the technological challenges, healthcare companies also need to meet regulatory compliance requirements. With the increase in the number of cyberattacks and data breaches in healthcare, the regulations are likely to become more stringent, putting an ever-increasing burden on healthcare to secure their businesses against cyber threats.
This complex matrix of technologies, applications, devices, and regulatory compliance makes cybersecurity in the healthcare industry a complex challenge that requires specialized knowledge. As more technologies are adopted in the healthcare industry, the role of cybersecurity will become even more important.
Common Security Threats To Healthcare Businesses
Cybercriminals particularly target healthcare organizations because they possess information of high monetary value for them. Their main targets include protected health information (PHI), financial information such as credit card and bank account numbers, and personally identifiable information (PII) such as Social Security numbers. The most common forms of cyberattacks on healthcare organizations are as follows:
1. Phishing
Phishing is generally used as one of the first steps in complex security incidents. The aim of phishing is to fool users into disclosing sensitive information, clicking on malicious links, or opening a malicious attachment. Phishing is particularly effective when unsuspecting users are stressed or too busy to notice the finer nuances of phishing emails. Phishing campaigns increase when the attackers know that users are anxious or stressed, such as during the tax season, natural disasters, or pandemics, which we have been experiencing since last year.
2. Ransomware And Other Malware
In recent years, ransomware has become a significant threat to the healthcare industry. Ransomware works by holding the device or data hostage until a ransom is paid to regain access to the device or data. Even if the ransom is paid, there is no guarantee that access to the data will be restored. Ransomware succeeds by attacking the very core of data security principles, namely confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.
In addition to ransomware, there are other malware that cybercriminals can use to gain unauthorized access, steal data, disrupt the normal functioning of your infrastructure to use as leverage for monetary gain. Knowing the various kinds of security threats to your business is essential if you are to mount a successful defense against them.
3. IoT Attacks
IoT technologies are generally used because they can bring energy efficiency, productivity, and cost savings. However, in healthcare IoT plays a much more critical role. Smart heating, HVAC systems, remote patient monitoring systems, etc. are all part of the connected IoT infrastructure. IoT attacks on such systems can have a devastating impact on the operations and more importantly can even be life-threatening. Therefore, in healthcare, IoT security is even more important than in other businesses.
4. Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attacks
Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are an obvious threat to any business that offers online services. DDoS attacks can not only disrupt online services such as appointment booking systems and access to healthcare data but can also target internet-connected devices to launch IoT attacks. It is imperative that healthcare providers have the ability to protect critical infrastructure from such attacks.
Cybersecurity Regulations in Healthcare
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is the main legislation that aims to regulate and protect information sharing through the use of electronic health records. HIPAA regulations consist of Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules. Any organization that creates, collects, handles, or transmits PHI is required to comply with HIPAA regulations. HIPAA describes provisions for the security and privacy of PHI and is arguably the most important legislation for healthcare providers.
Cybersecurity plays a critical role in HIPAA compliance. To be HIPAA compliant, among other things, organizations need to conduct internal security audits, develop remediation plans, and have a functioning incident management system.
Cybersecurity Best Practices In Healthcare
Fortunately, there are many cybersecurity best practices that you can implement to mitigate many of the cybersecurity risks in the healthcare industry. Here are the most important ones:
1. Perform Regular Cybersecurity Risk Assessments
Security risk assessments are the foundation of any cybersecurity program but are of special significance in healthcare. Risk assessments are not just a business requirement but are also necessary for HIPAA compliance.
Cybersecurity risk assessments help you identify, analyze, and evaluate the risks, prioritize them based on probability of occurrence and impact on the organization so that you are able to take actions that effectively mitigate the risks. Healthcare organizations must conduct cybersecurity risk assessments at least once a year.
Regular risk assessments can help your organization in the following ways:
Reduce security incidents, downtime, and associated costs.
Better allocate your resources based on identified vulnerabilities.
Prevent data breaches and associated financial implications.
Meet HIPAA requirements.
2. Use Mobile Device Management Solution
Mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones are becoming the norm for all modern businesses because they offer flexibility and mobility to the workforce. But with the benefits of mobile devices also come security risks and device management challenges. Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions offer businesses a practical and cost-effective way for managing, monitoring, tracking, and securing their mobile devices. MDM is a must-have for businesses that require data security and need to meet compliance requirements.
3. Make Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Mandatory
Username-password pair is no longer a secure authentication method. Large-scale data breaches and poor password hygiene have made passwords on their own highly unreliable. Due to this shortcoming of passwords, the need for Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) has arisen. MFA is a user authentication method that requires the username-password combination along with a separate factor such as biometrics, one-time-password sent to your phones, etc. before access to the account is provided. MFA provides excellent security, is cost-effective, and is relatively easy to implement.
4. Implement Identity And Access Management (IAM) Solution
With the large-scale adoption of new technologies, the cloud, IoT, and SaaS applications, access and digital identity management challenges in healthcare have grown tremendously. To ensure device and data security, it is essential to control how users gain an identity, how they are assigned roles, and how permissions are granted to digital identities.
This is where Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions can help healthcare organizations. The goal of an IAM system is to provide the right users with the right access to the right IT resources. It is a tool that enables you to effectively manage the process of identifying, authenticating, and authorizing individuals who access your organization’s IT resources.
IAM is essential for any organization that requires access management capabilities across multiple applications in a cost-effective manner and without hampering the productivity of end-users.
5. Tighten Your IoT Security
As we mentioned earlier, IoT plays a big role in healthcare but is also a major cause of security breaches. Therefore, understanding the risks of IoT and establishing controls are essential for any organization that uses IoT technologies.
We have covered this topic in greater detail in an earlier blog post that you can access here: How To Secure Your IoT Devices And Infrastructure. Here are the key takeaways from that blog post:
Define security standards for IoT devices.
Create a segregated network for IoT devices.
Don’t allow IoT devices to initiate network connections.
Implement access control.
6. Use Device Encryption
Lost or stolen devices can be an easy gateway for cybercriminals to gain access to your internal network and IT resources. Lost or stolen devices can also be used by unauthorized individuals to gain access to sensitive information such as PHI, PII, intellectual property, or company financials. Any such leakage of data will draw regulatory penalties and could put the business at risk of closure.
Device encryption is a simple tool that can be used to secure the information stored in a device. Encryption ensures that even if a criminal gains physical access to a device, they won’t be able to access any of the information on it.
7. Conduct Regular Security Awareness Training
Your employees are a critical part of your security program. No cybersecurity tool or system can successfully protect your business one hundred percent without the conscious and active participation of all employees. Therefore it is essential to provide cybersecurity awareness training with the goal of creating a cybersecurity-conscious culture.
Here are some useful cybersecurity training resources you can use:
Conclusion
Cybersecurity is essential not only for ensuring trouble-free day-to-day operations but also for protecting the private health information of the patients. In addition, cybersecurity is especially critical in the healthcare industry because of the critical role it plays in achieving and maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements such as HIPAA.
Are you a healthcare company looking to improve your security posture or to meet regulatory compliance requirements? Click the button below to reach out to us to learn more about our HIPAA compliant IT Services For Healthcare Companies.
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About The Author
Hari SubediMarketing Manager at Jones IT
Hari is an online marketing professional with a focus on content marketing. He writes on topics related to IT, Security, Small Business, and Mindfulness. He is also the founder and managing director of Girivar Kft., a business services company located in Budapest, Hungary.