For some time now, we’ve been blogging about increases in cybercrime as well as what you can do about it. The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) has published a cybercrime issue brief that explores some of healthcare’s common vulnerabilities typically exploited by cybercriminals today. WEDI also recommends best practices you can apply to help mitigate these vulnerabilities. It’s a worthwhile read.
[Download the PDF: The Rampant Growth of Cybercrime in Healthcare]
A few startling points and excerpts from the brief:
- “Data breaches cost the healthcare industry approximately $6.2 billion each year, with the average breach incurring damages of $2.2 million and compromising 3,128 records per incident.”
- That’s a very significant set of statistics. Despite this, “only 40 percent of healthcare organizations express concern about cyberattacks or report that their cybersecurity budget has increased in response to threats.”
The cybercrime issue brief also reviews common threats to healthcare organizations, such as spyware, malware (i.e. ransomware, rootkits and worms), “hacktivist” activity, and the latest phishing methods such as spear phishing and whaling.
Chris Apgar, CISSP is a former WEDI Board Member, a longtime member of its HIE Workgroup, and the founder of Apgar and Associates, LLC. The privacy and security compliance consulting firm helps organizations with information security risk analysis, creating risk mitigation and risk management plans, and more. For more information: 877-376-1981.
