What Makes Medical Data a Target for Hackers?

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Medical information is highly sought after by hackers and is vulnerable to cyberattacks. Data breaches to healthcare cost the industry millions of dollars every year, with phishing scams and malicious hacking attacks among the most likely causes of leaks. But what exactly is it about medical data that makes it such a target for hackers?

Money

Unfortunately, patient information is worth a lot of cash to criminals. Medical organisations, such as hospitals, store a massive amount of private and sensitive records on patients and this information is attractive to hackers. Patient data is highly detailed, often holding personal details, such as information relating to health insurance or finances, date of birth, and social security numbers. Subsequent information might be sold by hackers to other criminals, used to fraudulently access medical facilities or insurance, obtain prescription drugs, or even steal a patient’s identity.

Remote multiple devices

More employees are working from home and the healthcare industry is no different. As a result, patient records have to be accessible to staff, often remotely and on multiple devices. Connecting to an organisation’s network from an outside device can be a risk to security. Even if an organisation secures all of its devices on site, there really is no guarantee that personal devices out with its grounds have the same level of protection.

In addition to this, collaborative working is common in the medical sector, with different units often liaising together to provide care for their patients. These factors make medical information particularly susceptible to cyberattacks. So how do medical facilities deter cyberattacks when staff are accessing their network from multiple devices? Virtual private networks (VPNs) enable organisations to protect their data by providing secure connections between different systems in different locations.

Medical facilities can protect themselves by using Surfshark Australia servers, which offers fast VPN and unlimited security for users and the data entrusted with them.

Harder to detect malicious activity

What makes medical data, such as health records, particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks is that it is much harder to detect any unusual activity than with other personal data, such as banking information. Think about it : if your credit card is stolen, it’s relatively easy to cancel the card to prevent any unauthorised transactions. If information from your medical data is breached, however, you’re less likely to be alerted as swiftly. This means that health data that is leaked could potentially go undetected for a longer time as suspicious activity is harder to identify. Medical organisations can protect against potential cyberattacks by using VPNs or risk-based authentication (RBA). For every login to the company network, RBA analyses the probability of account compromise and flags up any suspicious activity.

Outdated systems

Medical organisations are often an attractive target for hackers because their security systems are more difficult to secure and so they’re often unprepared for attacks. It is the responsibility of hospitals and medical centres to keep patient confidential data secure. However, security upgrades can be expensive and many healthcare facilities are restricted by limited budgets. Furthermore, cybercriminals are always developing more advanced attacks. This means that any existing security software that a medical facility has can quickly become outdated.

Conclusion

Medical organisations store large amounts of sensitive data that unfortunately can be easily monetised when fallen into the wrong hands. This makes healthcare data an attractive target for hackers. However, there are certain measures that medical facilities can take to protect against cyberattacks.