Cybercrime and healthcare… One might think what a weird combination – right? However, I have to disappoint you. It is a cruel reality.
But let’s start at the beginning… the enabler: It is, what a ’surprise’, the increasing use of technology in the healthcare industry. But using technology does not only imply risks. We all know how beneficial technology in healthcare is. No matter which technology, it (most of the time…) all comes down to an increase in efficiency and effectiveness (AIMS Education 2019). Furthermore, those improvements aim to increase our quality of life while, hopefully, reduce its costs (AIMS Education 2019).
One of the easiest and best examples of technological adoption in healthcare is the digitalization of health records (Online Health Informatics 2020). Do you remember one of your doctors using a paper record? No? Me neither. This example might sound too simple to be true. However, digital healthcare records had a positive impact on not only the quality of public healthcare but also its costs. Those records can be communicated through the Internet of Things (IoT) within hospitals and stored in, e.g., clouds (Jayaraman et al. 2019).
The consequences are tremendous: Due to the sensitivity of medical data, its value is constantly increasing, making it a vulnerable target for cybercrime (Jayaraman et al. 2019). To get a glimpse of how valuable healthcare records are; it is up to 20x higher when compared to credit card details…
Cybercrime – two real-world examples and its dramatic consequence(s): The most recent (known) happened this Monday (28/09/20). The American hospital chain ‘Universal Health Services’ with its over 250 hospitals experienced an IT outage due to a cyberattack – causing no access to medical records and everything connected to WiFi (including the devices that monitored critical care patients) (CBS News 2020). Luckily, this cyber attack had no fatalities. The latter, however, happened two weeks earlier to a hospital in Düsseldorf, Germany. There, a cyberattack caused the death of a critical patient (The Guardian 2020)…
Even though it is highly unethical to put monetary gains over human life; I do personally think that this trend will continue. The increasing use of interconnected devices in healthcare will create even more sensitive data which will make it an even more attractive target to hackers…
What do you think? Will this trend will continue, or are technological enhancements, such as blockchain, chances to put an end to it? Let me know in the comments!
References:
AIMS Education. (2019). The Impact Of Technology In Healthcare. [online] Available at: <https://aimseducation.edu/blog/the-impact-of-technology-on-healthcare> [Accessed 1 October 2020].
CBS News. (2020). Cyberattack Hobbles Hospital Chain Universal Health Services. [online] Available at: <https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cyberattack-universal-health-services-hospital-chain-united-states/> [Accessed 1 October 2020].
Jayaraman, P. P. et al. (2020) “Healthcare 4.0: A Review of Frontiers in Digital Health,” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, 10(2).
Online Health Informatics. (2020). 5 Ways Technology Is Improving Health. [online] Available at: <https://healthinformatics.uic.edu/blog/5-ways-technology-is-improving-health/> [Accessed 1 October 2020].
The Guardian. (2020). Prosecutors Open Homicide Case After Cyber-Attack On German Hospital. [online] Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/sep/18/prosecutors-open-homicide-case-after-cyber-attack-on-german-hospital> [Accessed 1 October 2020]
Hi Denis,
Thank you for this interesting blog post! I was drawn to your article as I’m also interested in the digitisation of the healthcare industry. My blog was actually more focused on the opportunities E-Health entails; however, you correctly address the challenges this industry will increasingly encounter. I agree with you that security threats, just like in any industry, are a significant concern. Especially maybe, when it comes to confidential information such as health records. I do think, however, that disruption within the healthcare industry will continue as it offers a lot of opportunities (e.g. lower costs, personalised health treatments, more patient-centred care). One of the most important things the industry should focus on is to invest a great deal into cybersecurity technologies. Especially with the rise of IoT-related medical devices, the chances of hacks and breaches can increase. Hopefully, enough innovation efforts will go into creating safer digital environments…
In that sense, I think the digitisation of the healthcare industry is like a double-edged sword… Increasing benefits, unfortunately, also equal increased risks.
Dear Denis,
Thank you for your article. This makes me think of Philips which is now focusing on healthcare and technology to come up with solutions in order to make medical care more efficient and accessible. Furthermore, I believe that the rise of cybercrime in healthcare is a very interesting topic that you bring up. I believe not enough people are aware of this and it should be a priority to resolve these issues. Hospital should realize the consequences it can have and the potentially huge attacks that might happen. We are all concerned with this, as hackers could access our full profiles, entailing that they would also be able to see our credit card details for example. Action should be taken by authorities in order to reduce the probability of such attacks from happening.
Hi Dennis! What an interesting subject! The resources in the HealthCare industry, including the IT infrastructure, have a critical impact on the operation of the HealthCare system. The COVID-19 outbreak has created even more pressing needs. I agree that cyberattacks in the healthcare system pose a significant threat not only to the operation of the hospitals but also for the patients, especially concerning the leak of their highly sensitive medical data. Unfortunately, given the value of those data, I believe that these attacks will continue to increase. To prevent these attacks, I consider that the hospitals should heavily invest in their Information Security strategies, strengthening their firewalls, and performing more preventive security activities, such as penetration testing and vulnerability assessments to improve their level of security. Also, the hospitals should train their employees to raise personnel’s awareness regarding cybersecurity. Concerning technologies, Blockchain could be utilized to prevent cyberattacks. However, it should be carefully designed and implemented to create a system with zero vulnerabilities. Other advanced technologies that can be used to improve a hospital’s information security include AI and Machine Learning. These technologies are already utilized for security reasons such as authentication, thus their use could be expanded in the Cyber Security area.