Major Cyberattacks On Healthcare Grew 63% In 2016

[frogboy]

US hospitals lack new technologies and best practices to defend against threats, new report says.


Some 93 major cyberattacks hit healthcare organizations this year, up from 57 in 2015, new research shows.

TrapX Labs, a division of TrapX Security, found this 63% increase in attacks on the healthcare industry for the period between January 1, 2016 and December 12. Some may have been ongoing prior to Jan. 1, but for consistency, researchers only used official reporting dates to the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR).

Among the largest attacks were those on Banner Health (3.6M records), Newkirk Products (3.4M records), 21st Century Oncology (2.2M records), and Valley Anesthesiology Consultants (0.88M records).

Sophisticated attackers are now responsible for 31% of all major HIPAA data breaches reported this year, a 300% increase over the past three years, according to the report. Cybercriminals were responsible for 10% of all major data breaches in 2014 and 21% in 2015.

Despite the rise in attacks, the number of records breached dropped to about 12,057,759. That said, so many millions of health records have been stolen that the value of individual records decreased this year, TrapX reported.

Researchers pinpointed two major trends from 2016: the continued discovery and evolution of medical device hijacking, which TrapX calls MEDJACK and MEDJACK.2, and the increase of ransomware across a variety of targets

Read More. Major Cyberattacks On Healthcare Grew 63% In 2016

 

[Mohan Rajan]

Good article. The issue is this. Technology is a double edged sword it cuts both ways.
Hospitals fleece patients and bleed the healthcare system but do not want to invest on IT security infrastructure.
They deserve what they get.
In fact hospitals have taken a calculated decision and decided to pay a ransom as and when an infection occurs rather than spend on security which is a never ending cost.

 

[509322]

Good article. The issue is this. Technology is a double edged sword it cuts both ways.
Hospitals fleece patients and the healthcare system but do not want to invest on IT security infrastructure.
They deserve what they get.
In fact hospitals feel they are better off paying ransom as and when that occurs rather than spend on security which is a never ending game.

They will invest in security, and just pass those costs onto health care consumers.

 

[Mohan Rajan]

They will invest in security, and just pass those costs onto health care consumers.

Why invest in security when they can and are anyways making a killing?

 

[tim one]

Why they often attack the hospitals!?

Because by their nature, hospital have to pay, no possibility of negotiation with patient's life.

Why hospitals fall under the ransomware?

Because who is managing the hospital's security protocols ensures total protection just when they take the contract's money but if a ransomware infects the hospital their response is: "Oh sorry, no 100% protection is guaranteed. ...please read the terms" ...

 

[TheMalwareMaster]

Instead of preventing threats using more sophisticated (and expensive) products, which can also fail, I would first prevent human error by doing some CyberSecurity lessons (nothing really difficult to explain). But.. Who cares to do that?

 

[tim one]

Instead of preventing threats using more sophisticated (and expensive) products, which can also fail, I would first prevent human error by doing some CyberSecurity lessons (nothing really difficult to explain). But.. Who cares to do that?

Cybersecurity and the internet itself are tools.
These tools have to be an extension of our brain and the only way is to understand how they work.

 

[jamescv7]

Hackers use emailed links, malware-equipped memory sticks, and corrupt websites to load tools into these devices, most of which run standard/older operating systems and proprietary software.

If a hospital hired responsible I.T personnel then chances of attacks will be lesser by following standard and practical procedure.

Sentence quoted on the article is definitely sum it up the overall causes of high percentage attacks.