Healthcare and pharma companies are at the forefront of our most important need as humans: saving lives. To succeed, they require highly skilled staff members, medical equipment, drugs and resources. On top of these, there is another equally crucial component that will determine their ability to perform their jobs: their network. A secure, reliable and high performing network will ensure patient safety, data integrity and operational efficiency.

Password management in the healthcare industry is essential for maintaining the privacy of patient and employee information. HealthITSecurity reports that in just the first three months of 2024, there were over 115 data breaches in the healthcare industry. One of the most recent and largest data breaches in healthcare impacted over 2.3 million patients of Medical Management Resource Group at the end of 2023.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of medications, vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other types of products. To ensure the safety and security of medical devices, the FDA supports a variety of standards and guidelines that medical device manufacturers are highly recommended to follow.

Ransomware is more prolific and expensive than ever. Depending on the source you read, the average or median ransomware payment was at least several hundred thousand dollars to well over several million in 2023. Marsh, a leader in cybersecurity insurance, wrote that its customers paid an average of $6.5 million in ransom in 2023 (after just paying an average of $1.4 million in 2023).

Each day, it seems that we hear of another healthcare organization being compromised by a cyber attack. It is clear that the healthcare industry is the new favorite target amongst cybercriminals. Fortunately, vigorous efforts are available to combat these threats. We recently spoke to Errol Weiss, Chief Security Officer at Health-ISAC. Errol spearheads the information sharing and analysis center, helping to make the healthcare sector better informed and more resilient.

A recent cyberattack on Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago has resulted in a significant data breach, exposing the personal information of 791,000 patients. Despite the hospital's refusal to pay a ransom, a vast amount of sensitive medical data is now at risk. Details of the Attack The cybercriminals infiltrated the hospital's systems, causing severe disruptions to its patient portal, communications, and access to medical records.

The US FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have released a joint advisory warning of a social engineering campaign that’s targeting the healthcare industry. “Threat actors are using phishing schemes to steal login credentials for initial access and the diversion of automated clearinghouse (ACH) payments to US controlled bank accounts,” the advisory states.

Incident Overview In a significant breach of healthcare data security, the Qilin ransomware gang has leaked 400GB of NHS and patient data on Telegram. The group, identified as the Qilin ransomware gang, claimed responsibility for the exfiltration and demanded a $50 million ransom, threatening to release the data if their demands were not met. Following failed negotiations, the gang followed through on their threat and made the entire dataset public.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to ensure that the data behind every life-saving surgery, every critical care decision, and every patient record is not only secure but also instantly recoverable in the face of cyber threats? In the world of healthcare, where every second can mean the difference between life and death, this isn't just a technical challenge - it's a mission.