Mary-Louise Hoffman
The healthcare sector is 340 percent more likely than any other average industry to experience cybersecurity incidents and attacks, partly due to rapid adoption of electronic medical records, according to a Raytheon|Websense report.
Raytheon|Websense’s “2015 Healthcare Drill-Down Report” also indicates that one in 600 attacks on health information technology systems involve sophisticated malware, the cybersecurity firm said Wednesday.
“While the finance and retail sectors have long honed their cyber defenses, our research illustrates that healthcare organizations must quickly advance their security posture to meet the challenges inherent in the digital economy,” said Carl Leonard, principal security analyst at Raytheon|Websense.
Researchers also observed hackers using malicious strains Dyre and Cryptowall to steal information from healthcare organizations and found that a lack of security awareness
training programs heighten the risk of phishing attacks against the sector.
The study also analyzed what impact the emergence of connected medical devices will have on patient security.
