How Health Care Organizations Can Thwart Cyberattacks

The Rethink podcast covers prevention strategies and more

3 min read
A person in front of a computer with medical based icons all around them.
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Ransomware and other types of cyberattacks are striking health care systems at an increasing rate. More than one in three health care organizations around the world reported ransomware attacks last year, according to a survey of IT professionals by security company Sophos. About 40 percent of the nearly 330 respondents from the health care sector that weren't attacked last year said they expect to be hit in the future.

In the United States, the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Department of Health and Human Services were so concerned with the increase in cyberattacks on hospitals and other health care providers that in October they issued a joint advisory warning of the "increased and imminent cybercrime threat."

But the health care field isn't helpless against cyber threats. The IEEE Standards Association Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice—which is focused on clinical health, the biopharmaceutical value chain, and wellness—recently released Season 2 of the Re-Think Health podcast. The new season features experts from around the world who discuss measures that can help organizations minimize and even prevent attacks. The experts emphasize that cybersecurity is more than an IT concern; they say it needs to be managed from a holistic perspective, aligning employees, technology, and processes within an organization.

The six episodes in Cybersecurity for Connected Healthcare Systems: A Global Perspective are as follows:

MORE EPISODES

Season 1 of the podcast is still available. Pain Points of Integrating New Technologies Into an Existing Healthcare Ecosystem features technologists, researchers, and ethicists discussing insights into opportunities and challenges.

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