How to Stop Data Theft in the Healthcare Industry?

Cybercrime in the healthcare industry is growing rapidly. Nearly 90% of all healthcare organizations have experienced one or more data breach in the past two years. This industry has suffered more breaches than any other industry in the last ten years, losing an estimated total of $6.2 billion. They are failing largely because they havent been securing their applications. When it comes to online security, the healthcare industry has been stuck in their ways, but this needs to change. They need to adapt with the times and become unpredictable, or we could see some life-threatening information get into the wrong hands.

When it comes to data theft in the healthcare industry, there are three areas that these thieves look for: medical records, billing and insurance records, and payment information. The hackers go mainly for medical records and are looking for the best way to sell this information to people. They are leveraging the information they have over social media to get more people interested in what they are selling. Medical records are still a little harder to sell than financial records, but experts believe that very soon, these hackers will be able to sell the information much more easily. This will put many people at risk if the healthcare industry doesnt change something they are doing.

The healthcare industry has long used the same methods and procedures to keep files out of the wrong hands. Because they have constantly been doing the same thing and dont change much when something does go wrong, it makes it very easy to break through the security features they have in place. Making cybersecurity a priority is a must. Becoming less predictable and working together with other industry players will help in their first defense against cyber criminals.

Humans are the main pitfall in the cyber war on medical records. Usually the hackers gain access to the records through the employees of a healthcare organization. They trick the employees into giving out passwords or sensitive information that then allows them access to confidential records. Most of the time these employees dont even know it is happening until someone in IT catches it. The hackers are also reaching out to healthcare professionals through social media to convince them to join their team and give them access to all the files they want.

In order to stop this from happening anymore, healthcare industry leaders need to educate their employees in cyber security. The first step to preventing a cyber attack is understanding it — understanding what makes a strong password, what information needs to be kept from others, how to tell if something is fishy and shouldnt be clicked on, etc. For many in this industry, the online aspect is new and they might not be as well informed as others. Educating employees in this area will prevent the small things from seeping out and eventually hackers will have to try very hard to get the information they want out of the healthcare industry.

Digitizing the industry is fairly new and the healthcare professionals arent totally invested in it yet. They have a bigger issue on their hands in helping their patients. Digital security is the least of their worries, whereas in other industries, digital security is a top priority. Healthcare professionals need to make this a higher priority. Allocating a little bit more of the budget to go towards this area could make all the difference. Learning what works best and what doesnt work at all from other industries will give them a leg up on the hackers. Instead of just allowing the hacking to happen and then cleaning up the mess, the industry needs to make cyber security more of a priority.

Many executives acknowledge the fact that the healthcare industry is at a much greater risk than most industries when it comes to hacking. This is because they have very small budgets dedicated to this and are using outdated security features. They rely on firewalls and antivirus packages that they try to keep up-to-date. These are obviously not working since less than 10% of all healthcare organizations have not seen a data breach ever. There are many technologies today that can help prevent hackers from getting in, but the healthcare industry isnt leveraging them. Network surveillance tactics analyze behaviors and are used to find credit card fraud. This same technology could be used to detect the misuse of login credentials.

The healthcare industry is taking advantage of digital technology in educating potential employees with the creation of online courses such as BLS renewal and medical transcription training, but they are failing to take advantage of it in their security. Patient data security should be the first place they are focusing on implementing digital technology. Artificial intelligence gives security an upper hand as well. It takes out the human factor that so commonly fails the security of patients.

Artificial intelligence creates a digital fingerprint for each employee and analyzes all the activity happening on the server. If it detects any strange activity, it exposes the hackers by making them prove they are truly the employee. If they cannot, they are denied access altogether. Once the hacker has been stopped, IT can get cracking on new ways to stop the hackers from even getting as far as they did. It also flags any employees who are constantly breaking cyber security policy. Artificial intelligence does the work humans will probably never be able to do. The amounts of data it can sort through in such little time is incredible. When you start harnessing its power, its difficult to beat that kind of security as a hacker.

The war on cyber security can be won if executives take the time and money to protect their systems. If a hack does happen after all the proper steps have been taken, its not the end of the world. Data breaches still happen to the best of us. Stay calm and figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.