By Jimmy Diaz, Information Security Manager
In 2021, the healthcare industry continues to face a variety of cyber attacks and look to lessons learned to close cyber vulnerabilities. A few trends include:
- Expanding Cyber Attack Surface (Remote Work, Internet of Things)
- Ransomware
- Threats to Network Infrastructure
People doing more business over the internet and businesses moving more applications to the cloud are factors that have led to the expanding cyber attack surface. More businesses have transitioned to working remotely causing remote work to be a target since home offices are typically not as secure and fortified as the traditional office. IoT analytics show that more people on average have several devices online giving hackers more options to breach networks to exploit data.
Ransomware has been around for nearly two decades and has grown in popularity because it is still financially rewarding to hackers. According to surveys, ransomware has increased as a primary risk due to the ease of phishing campaigns. Preventing ransomware requires information security awareness and preparation based on vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, secure passwords, updating patches and having secure security appliances, VPNs, and Wi-Fi. Most important of all, do not fall for the phishing attempts and be sure to back up sensitive data.
Hackers often seek out unsecured ports and systems that connect to the Internet with vulnerabilities. Legacy systems can be compromised since they tend to fail to protect against cyber-attacks. Mitigation efforts can be done by employing new technologies that monitor, alert, and analyze activities in the network.
In summary, the most important tasks analyzing trends is to be vigilant, have mitigation strategies to try and fill the gaps, address known vulnerabilities and learn from lessons of previous cyber breaches and incidents.