Health Care Sector Most Targeted, Least Prepared for Cyberattacks

The health care industry is the most targeted and least prepared for cyberattacks of any sector in the U.S., according to a report from the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, FierceHealthITreports (Hall, FierceHealthIT, 1/20).

Details of Report

The report examined research from various sources, including experts with:

• Carnegie Mellon University;
• HHS;
• The Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology;
• NASA; and
• The National Institute of Standards and Technology (ICIT report, January 2016).

In the report, the authors attributed health care cyberattacks to:

• Complex infrastructures that allow hackers access to data;
• Manufacturers no longer supporting certain technology; and
• The Internet of Things creating a large attack surface (FierceHealthIT, 1/20).

It found that the health care sector’s “adversaries” for cyberattacks are:

• “Script Kiddies,” which purchase and use hacking tools and malware developed by others;
• Hacktivists, which are politically motivated;
• Cyber criminals, which generally aim to make money through the extortion or disclosure of stolen data;
• Cyberterrorists, which aim to disrupt or destroy services that are critical to a nation, sector or organization’s activities; and
• Nation state actors, which are sponsored by a nation state to target foreign governments and organizations (ICIT report, January 2016). For the full article click here 

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