Could Cyber Security Threats be the Next Big Healthcare Emergency?

Cyber security is a continuing concern in healthcare, with threats on the rise. Sectra’s Chris Scarisbrick considers the landscape, how far cloud adoption can help the NHS, and how functions like procurement are starting to think differently.

The coronavirus pandemic has led many people in healthcare to think differently about emergency resilience. But what will the next major emergency be?

Having recently completed his tenure as chief executive of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Professor Marcel Levi said earlier this year that it was an “illusion” to think organisations can “precisely prepare for what is coming our way”. He was speaking to veteran commentator Roy Lilley in March at an Institute of Health and Social Management meeting, in which the suggestion emerged that the next big disaster facing healthcare might even be global cyber-attack.

Such concerns are apparently not unjustified. Many people will remember the impact of the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack that infiltrated NHS systems throughout the country. And despite its impact, this attack was reportedly not specifically targeted at healthcare organisations. According to cyber security expert Leif Nixon, attacks facing healthcare across the world are now on the rise. He remarked in an article this summer that in the US, for example, there has been a “steady stream of flash messages from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other security organisations about increased threat levels against healthcare systems”.