Since 2010, the number of data breaches in the healthcare industry has been steadily on the rise. Consequently, a new study out by the Ponemon Institute has found that such breaches will end up costing the industry 6.2 billion dollars. The source of the breaches? Employees.
According to the study, the thing that most organizations fear when it comes to causing this sort of data loss is its own employees, following that was cybercriminals and insecure mobile devices. Businesses associated with the healthcare industry had similar concerns with employee error being at the top followed by using cloud services and cyberattacks.
Most of these attacks on the healthcare industry take the form of ransomware where hackers encrypt a hospital’s files and demands payment in Bitcoins to get a key to unlock them. Businesses and organizations need to train their employees to be able to recognize social engineering attacks and phishing emails. Don’t download anything from an email address you don’t recognize and be wary unexpected emails from well-known brands with attachments. It’s also a good idea for organizations to have their email gateways scan and block any malicious code it comes across.
In order to better protect yourself from being taken advantage of by data breaches or ransomware, download the free Ransom Protection Checklist or sign up to receive it by mail. If you find that you might be at risk, schedule a free 10 minute Ransomware Safety Review.