harmonise to a fresh theme from cybersecurity experts , hospitalsare hackers ’ new favorite playground . That ’s unsettling intelligence for anyone who ’s ever shoot the breeze a hospital ( read : everyone ) but it also offers a funny window into how we ward our most important data . Put bluntly , we do a passably piss poor job of it .
The security research business firm Websensesaysthat cyberattacks on hospital have increased 600 percent in the last 10 months . Undoubtedly , much of that increase can be account for bythe previously reported attack on Community Health Systems , which affected some 4.5 million patient in 206 hospital across 29 state . Websense and other security research firms say thatthe now notorious Heartbleed vulnerabilityis to blame for many of the breaches , though patches have since been put into piazza . Those firmsalso saythat one C of thousands of patient stay on vulnerable .
Why is this hap ? Well there are a couple of reasons , both of them shivery . The latest enquiry suggests that hackers are turning to hospital because they ’re just so dang easy to hack . The healthcare industry spends very little on cybersecurity , saysJohn Halamka , chief data officer and James Byron Dean of technology for Harvard Medical School . He ( rhetorically)asked the MIT Technology Review , “ Where do you think you ’re going to find the vulnerabilities ? ”
The other big reason hackers like hospitals is because the data point is so valuable . The bounty of personal information contained in aesculapian records run for a pretty cent on the black mart , and can also be used to socially engineer other attack onto those patient .
Then there ’s the proprietary data about the hospitals themselves that the attackers can harvest . Re / Codereported on the earliest attack , supposedly mounted by the Chinese Army :
On average , the hacker would drop nearly a year perusing a targeted fellowship ’s system looking for sensitive information to slip : Cartesian product development plans , fabricate techniques , business enterprise plans and the email messages of senior executive director . The point is to serve Formosan companies be more competitory .
So some hackers are after your Social Security number and physical traits , while other hackers are snoop on how we melt our health care industry . Super duper .
What can we do about it ? prefer your health care supplier very carefully . detect out how electronic aesculapian phonograph record are being secure , and if you ’re feeling really frisky , you could pressure your member of Congress to innovate legislation that would regulate cybersecurity in the healthcare industry more closely . Maybe just cross your finger , too . Just for in effect luck . [ Tech Review ]
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CybersecurityHackinghospitalsSecurity
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