Page 85 - Cyber Defense eMagazine June 2020 Edition

as cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things (IoT), mobile applications, and analytics are the force
behind this digital revolution in healthcare. On one hand it has changed the way patients receive care

be it tracking doctor’s appointment online, monitoring vitals through mobile-based health applications, or
consulting doctors through telemedicine. While on the other hand availability of electronic health records
(e.g. patient’s medical history, lab reports, etc.) has also helped doctors in making better and informed

medical decisions. Thus, making it a win-win situation for two key stakeholders in the healthcare industry.
As we can see whether it is providing or receiving care every decision requires one crucial component

i.e. data. This is where technology comes into the picture. The exact role of technology in healthcare is
to provide solutions where data is stored in a structured form, as well as it should be available anytime,
anywhere through various devices either for quick reference or for decision making. Technology which is

providing strength to the data in healthcare is also the one which is making it more vulnerable. Let’s look
at one of the headline

1
“HIV status of over 14,000 people leaked online, Singapore authorities say” (CNN, Jan 29, 2019)
Scary, right!

Healthcare industry has witnessed a surge in the cyberattacks in the past few years. According to Statista
medical/healthcare organizations has been the second-most attacked industry with 366 data breaches

2
after businesses with the majority (571) breaches out of total 1244 data breaches reported during 2018 .
Healthcare is attracting more cybercriminals for being more lucrative than any other industry.

Interestingly, personal health information is 50 times more valuable on the black market than financial
information, and stolen patient health records can fetch upwards of $60 per record (which is 10-20 times
more than credit card information) . Further, the weekly or daily frequency of cyberattacks on healthcare
3
4
organizations is 39 percent as compared to financial organizations which stand at 34 percent .

The kind of cyberattacks faced by healthcare organizations varies from ransomware, malware, phishing,
to insider errors. What makes this situation unique is that the impact of these cyberattacks not only put

patient data at risk but also disrupt the healthcare service provider’s ability to provide care to the patients.
Thus, leading to situations where the loss may not be limited only to money or data but a life.

1 https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/28/health/hiv-status-data-leak-singapore-intl/index.html
2 https://www.statista.com/statistics/273572/number-of-data-breaches-in-the-united-states-by-business/
3 https://cybersecurityventures.com/cybersecurity-almanac-2019/
4 https://www.radware.com/ert-report-2018/

Cyber Defense eMagazine –June 2020 Edition 85
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