Hospitals and biomedical facilities are prioritizing cybersecurity now more than ever. The healthcare industry has proven to be very vulnerable to hackers in the past few years. Along with the abundance of personal information hospitals and biomedical facilities hold, they also need to be protected from breaches because of certain laws they abide by and audits that takes place. In seeing multiple breaches occur in the healthcare industry recently, it has become increasingly more important to implement the right MSPs and strengthen their cyberdefenses.
The healthcare industry has become a prime target for hackers. Over 93% of healthcare organizations have experienced a data breach within the past 3 years. Additionally, 57% have had more than 5 data breaches during the same timeframe. In response to this data, hospitals are spending about $125 billion on their cybersecurity from 2020-2025.
The Cloud Security Alliance released a report discussing healthcare cybersecurity best practices. The report mentions, “So much of cybersecurity is a `weakest link’ game,” says Stuart Collins, a healthcare cybersecurity expert in Minneapolis. “And this means that a hospital can turn themselves into Fort Knox, but if the supplier of uniforms for the radiologists has a sloppy cybersecurity regimen, that can jeopardize every entity on the chain – including the hospital.” It is truly a domino effect when it comes to cybersecurity within hospitals. There needs to be several barriers in preventing hackers from coming in and causing damage in multiple areas. The CSA also discusses the importance of healthcare audits. They recommend hospitals do specific healthcare audits of their clients. Risk scoring their suppliers can also help find dangerous qualities in any area of a hospital, (even the cafeteria). There are many laws that vary by location that hospitals must follow. Running audits and becoming aware of what laws they must be in compliance with (and requiring compliance to follow security standards) will benefit cyberdefenses.
In conclusion, healthcare facilities are ramping up their cyberdefenses because of their known vulnerability to hackers. Too many facilities have experienced a breach, and most experiencing more than one. This has caused a huge financial burden to the industry having to clean up the damages and implement better cybersecurity. Medical-related hackers have become more and more common because of the weak security. Hospitals must act, follow the advice from The Cloud Security Alliance, and implement MSPs as cyber walls to ensure their cybersecurity is the best that it can be to stop a breach.
Source; SmarterMSP