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Cybersecurity in healthcare is a strategic initiative undertaken by the medical industry with an aim to protect sensitive patient data and related IT infrastructure from cyber threats.
Healthcare organisations face all kinds of threats, including those targeted against medical devices and cyber-physical systems (CPS), besides traditional IT threats. If healthcare devices are compromised, it could lead to disruption in patient care, even leading to loss of life.
Ransomware Attack: This can corrupt the entire healthcare system by encrypting vital data and then demanding ransom for release of such data. Such an attack can block access to patient records, disrupt medical procedures, and even cause cancellation of critical surgeries.
This involves unauthorised access to sensitive data. These kinds of incidents include negligence, employee errors, tampering with medical records, and data theft by malicious insiders.
Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices, such as pacemakers or insulin pumps, can be hacked to change their functionality, which could lead to harming a patient.
For such threats, hackers infiltrate networks to steal data over a long period. Typically, healthcare institutions, with their big storage of valuable data, are prime targets for such attacks.