In an escalating war of cybercrime during a global pandemic, smaller healthcare providers are losing more battles than they are winning. 

An increasing number of global healthcare providers are succumbing to the overwhelming resources of sophisticated nation-state military espionage units and organized crime syndicates. With pandemic cases rising and the future full of unknowns, smaller healthcare providers are having a difficult time keeping up, not just in terms of patient care. Is it now time for some to consider throwing in the towel and transferring their cyber risks to specialist healthcare managed security services providers?

The Effects of COVID-19

COVID-19 has transformed healthcare around the world. Many staff have been furloughed as non-emergency procedures are postponed, nearly all non-clinical employees now work from home, and telehealth has largely replaced doctor visits and consults.

Amid the chaos, cybercriminals are using this confusion and changing state in order to implementing a number of cyberattacks against hospitals and healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs). They do so for everything from simple criminal monetary gain, via ransomware attacks and other forms of extortion, to the attempted theft of clinical research, other IP, and non-public data, as we reported in our previous article.

Already outnumbered at least five to one, the odds of successfully defending a cyberattack for healthcare providers just got much worse. This begs the question, would these healthcare providers be better off passing the defensive torch to an outside team of cybersecurity experts?

Hear From the Experts

In a recent discussion panel, healthcare security thought leaders and experts discuss this subject at the CTG Intelligence Cybersecurity Virtual Forum in Albuquerque, NM. Join them as they discuss the rising healthcare attacks and the need for better cybersecurity amid the pandemic surge. 

Presenting at the virtual stage were: 

• Richard Staynings, Chief Security Strategist at Cylera
• Bob Maley, Chief Security Officer at Normshield 
• Brett Cattell, Director of Systems at Robin Healthcar

Check out other COVID related cyber attacks blogs.