If you are at all interested in cyber security (like I am) you are forever checking in on the biggest data breaches of the year – it’s a morbid fascination. But for many, it’s moved from the realm of morbid fascination to a morbid reality – and the people affected are those who likely need the bad news the least. Without mentioning any names (ahem), the lack of investment in cyber security in the healthcare arena is hitting hard in 2019 – and its only March. Just to give you an idea of how serious this is, here are the broad strokes:
- January 11, 2019 – 31,000 patient records compromised in phishing attack
- January 31, 2019 – 23,000 patient records compromised in phishing attack
- February 4, 2019 – 20,000 patient records compromised in phishing attack
- February 20, 2019 – 42,000 patient records compromised in data breach
- February 20, 2019 – 1 million patient records compromised in data breach
- February 22, 2019 – 326,000 patient records compromised in data breach
- March 4, 2019 – 45,000 patient records compromised in data breach
- March 6, 2019 – 120,000 patient records compromised in data breach
- March 12, 2019 – 20,420 patient records compromised in cyberattack
- March 15, 2019 – 60,000 patient records compromised in data breach
- March 19, 2019 – 72,000 patient records compromised in data breach
*Sample of the biggest security breaches of 2019 in the world
If we do the math (with a calculator) we end up with 1,739,000. Some fun facts about this number. For $1,739,000 you can buy a 6-bedroom, 4-bathroom house in Vancouver, British Columbia. 1,739,000 is the exact population of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq. Today, there are 1,739,000 “Manager” jobs listed on LinkedIn. 1,739,000 seconds is equal to 2 weeks, 6 days, 3 hours, 3 minutes and 20 seconds and it would take you 4 weeks to count to 1,739,000.
So why is the healthcare industry so far behind on cyber security? One of the main reasons might be that hospitals prioritize medical technology and staff over IT and budget accordingly. Second, cyber criminals know the healthcare industry is often not well protected against cyber-attacks and the volume of attacks are high (as you see above). On top of all this, healthcare organizations are large and complex, making them vulnerable in a myriad of different ways. This size and complexity create inconsistencies in networks, systems and locations, making it easy to “divide and concur” for criminals. Finally, shared networks in hospitals and insurance companies mean that any amount of access could have vast potential.
About Sangfor Technologies
What can be done about it? Sangfor Technologies has years of experience protecting the healthcare industry in the SEA region. You need consistent security for your entire network, PC’s and servers – all included in Sangfor’s NGAF. For issues with bandwidth management, authentication and behavior control (catch them in the act!), check out our IAM solution. Speaking of those network vulnerabilities due to inconsistencies, Sangfor’s HCI solution utilizes storage volume technology to allow HIP, HIS, PACS, LIS and EMR systems to run on different configurations, allowing different business systems to use different resources.
Get in touch with us at https://www.sangfor.com to check out all the different ways we can keep the healthcare industry safe, fast and keeping you healthy.
Founded in 2000 and a publicly traded company as of 2018 (SANGFOR STOCK CODE: 300454 (CH)) Sangfor Technologies is the global leading vendor of IT infrastructure solutions specializing in Network Security & Cloud Computing.
