{"id":24461,"date":"2022-06-07T12:44:10","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T16:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carecloud.com\/continuum\/?p=24461"},"modified":"2025-11-03T10:43:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T10:43:26","slug":"top-cybersecurity-threats-healthcare-providers-should-be-aware-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/top-cybersecurity-threats-healthcare-providers-should-be-aware-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Cybersecurity Threats Healthcare Providers Should be Aware of"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you have been paying attention to headlines over the last two years, then you should be fully aware of the increasing rate of cyberattacks impacting organizations across every sector, including government, technology, education, and healthcare, which unfortunately tends to be <\/span>one of the most targeted sectors.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The reason for that is simple: healthcare organizations are typically very lucrative and handle a ton of high-value data, including patient records, proprietary information, and other sensitive personal health information (PHI) that can be stolen and leveraged.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Stolen medical records can be sold on the dark web for<\/span> as much as $1,000 per record<\/span><\/a>, making PHI an enticing target for cyber criminals, especially if a large enough system can be compromised. We\u2019re talking about large healthcare groups that hold records for millions of patients.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is why healthcare organizations have the<\/span> highest industry cost of a breach<\/span> \u2013 $9.23 million per incident. This cost is up nearly 30% from 2020, according to IBM\u2019s annual <\/span>Cost of a Data Breach Report<\/span>, which has listed healthcare as the costliest industry when it comes to mitigating cyberattacks \u2013 an accolade the sector has claimed for 11 consecutive years.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A NOTE ABOUT HACKERS<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Hackers \u2013 whether affiliated with a nation state or other organized crime groups \u2013 are opportunistic. They take advantage and pounce when your attention is diverted, which is why cyberattacks have increased since the start of the pandemic. Some 70% of hospitals, <\/span>surveyed last November<\/span><\/a>, reported that they were the victim of a cyberattack within the last 12 months.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The healthcare industry has been one of the heaviest targeted sectors since the beginning of the pandemic and, shockingly, cybersecurity is still not a high priority for health group executives and overworked practice administrators. Only 40% of healthcare cybersecurity professionals surveyed in an early<\/span> 2021 HIMSS survey<\/span><\/a> expect budgets to receive appropriate funding over the next two to three years.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Coupled with the typical cybercrime model of exploiting world events, healthcare \u2013 much like every other sector \u2013 has increased its technology usage, creating an even greater opportunity for criminals to strike.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

TOP CYBER ATTACKS, AND HOW TO AVOID THEM<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Phishing<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

Phishing is one of the most known, and most successful, attack strategies in a cyber criminal\u2019s arsenal. If you\u2019ve ever been alerted by your email provider of a suspicious email that included a link or attachment, you\u2019ve come face-to-face with a phishing email.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These emails are a social engineering trick designed to get you to click on a malicious link or attachment. When you do, malware is launched in your system. These attempts often look very legitimate and may appear to come from someone within your organization. The email may even appear to come from someone you\u2019ve interacted with in the past.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. agencies <\/span>warned during the pandemic<\/span><\/a> of fraudulent emails purporting to be from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control or other organizations claiming to offer COVID information. Others asked for charitable donations, information about financial relief, and details about vaccines and testing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This was a clever strategy for cyber criminals because people were anxious and hungry for information regarding the virus. This resulted in high click volume, and many were infected with malware that gave criminals access to sensitive patient data, locked IT systems for ransom, and established a foothold in many IT environments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0To combat phishing attacks, follow these steps:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n