About 62 percent of healthcare executives admitted to experiencing a cyber attack in the past year, with more than half losing patient data as a result, according to a new survey from Merlin International, a cybersecurity solutions provider for healthcare organizations, in partnership with the Ponemon Institute.
Recognizing that hospitals and payer organizations are facing constant, increasingly destructive cyber attacks, this survey of 627 healthcare organization executives looked to examine the myriad of cybersecurity-related challenges and how organizations are (or are not) addressing them.
Among healthcare providers surveyed, the majority set, manage and/or determine IT priorities, budgets and strategy while working at organizations counting between 100-500 patient beds (67 percent) and with an estimated 10,000 to 100,000 network connected devices (66 percent).
The survey data revealed that organizations are equally concerned with external attacks (63 percent) as they are with employee negligence or malicious insiders (64 percent). But what are the bad guys after? When asked, respondents highlighted the top five items: patient medical records (77 percent); patient billing information (56 percent); log-in credentials (54 percent); passwords and other authentication credentials to systems, servers or applications (49 percent); and clinical trial and other research information (45 percent).
What’s more, hackers, who are eager to cause chaos, steal or hold data for ransom subject healthcare organizations to all types of attacks. The exploitation of existing software vulnerabilities greater than three months old leads the way at 71 percent, followed closely by Web-borne malware attacks at 69 percent. While the report found many traditional attack types being used, the rise of ransomware—at 37 percent—"should raise alarm as this is a new and lucrative attack vector. Hackers are successfully earning significant income from holding systems and data hostage,” the researchers found.
Another concern is the security of medical devices. 65 percent surveyed responded “no” or “unsure” when asked whether the security of medical devices is part of their overall cybersecurity strategy. And though these devices appear to be a new and growing target for attackers, 31 percent have no plans to include them in the near future.
More than half (52 percent) of those surveyed agreed that a lack of employee awareness and training affects their ability to achieve a strong security posture. In addition, 74 percent cited insufficient staffing as the biggest obstacle to maintaining a fully effective security posture. According to responses, only 51 percent of organizations have a dedicated chief information security officer (CISO) and 60 percent surveyed don’t think they have the right cybersecurity qualifications in-house. What’s more, only half of the organizations (51 percent) have any type of incident response program at all.
“In an increasingly connected, digitally centric world, hackers have more opportunities and incentive than ever to target healthcare data, and the problem will only increase in scope over time,” Merlin International’s Director of Healthcare Strategy, Brian Wells, said in a statement. “Healthcare organizations must get even more serious about cybersecurity to protect themselves and their patients from losing access to or control of the proprietary and personal information and systems the industry depends on to provide essential care.”
