Stay updated with the latest healthcare cybersecurity trends, news, and tips to protect patient data and comply with medical industry security standards.
Search across headline titles and summaries.
Background for this topic.
Healthcare is the delivery of clinical care and related services through hospitals, clinics, laboratories, pharmacies, insurers, and connected medical devices. It depends on electronic health records (EHRs), patient identity systems, diagnostic and imaging platforms, medication and scheduling systems, and data exchanges between organizations. These environments hold sensitive health and payment information, while the availability and integrity of systems can affect treatment, diagnostics, and patient safety.
Security concerns include unauthorized access or disclosure of records, alteration of clinical data, and disruption of care through attacks on EHRs, connected devices, or third-party services. Defenses require risk-based access controls, strong authentication, network separation where appropriate, secure device and software maintenance, backups that support clinical continuity, and tested downtime and incident-response procedures. Vulnerability management must account for legacy systems and devices that cannot be patched quickly. Privacy and compliance obligations, such as HIPAA in the United States, shape how organizations collect, use, share, retain, and report health information.
An identity-based microsegmentation deployment at Main Line Health in Philadelphia is helping to control how its roughly 60,000 devices communicate across the network in order to protect clinical operations and limit the impact of potential cyberattacks, said Main Line Health CISO Aaron Weismann.
Real and intense financial pressures on rural and small healthcare clinics mandate making difficult decisions on allocating funds to cybersecurity, said Greg Sieg, CISO at the University of Michigan Regional Health Network. "The funding is just not there."
Attorneys can conduct security risks assessments under the color of client privilege, making it less likely to surface in discovery during litigation. But healthcare firms should consider the cons before they take that route, said attorney Adam Greene, partner at the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine.
Key Challenges in the Proposed HIPAA Security Rule UpdateThe HIPAA Security Rule may soon undergo its first major overhaul in decades. Although finalization could come as early as May 2026, timelines remain uncertain as new requirements are grounded in modern cybersecurity practices and frameworks.
Rural hospitals and clinics continue to struggle with a lack of cyber resources but a federal grant program set to provide $50 billion worth of funding across all 50 states could hopefully help lessen some of the pain, said Jim Roeder, VP of IT at Lakewood Health System in Minnesota.
Long-life medical devices - products typically used for a decade or longer - are among the most post-quantum, cryptographically vulnerable technologies in healthcare, said Joern Lubadel, global head of product security at German-based medical device and healthcare products maker B. Braun.
For the U.S. healthcare ecosystem, the 2024 ransomware attack on Change Healthcare proved to be a supply-chain earthquake in showcasing critical third-party risk that entities now must carefully and urgently consider, said Erik Decker, CISO of Intermountain Health and a federal cyber adviser.
Medical device cyber challenges are among the most complex for manufacturers and healthcare delivery organizations for a variety of reasons, but there are some promising developments underway that could help ease the pain, said Phil Englert of the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center.
Tehran-Linked Handala Hackers Disrupt Medtech Giant Stryker, Claim Verifone BreachAs the United States and Israel continue their war with Iran, Tehran-linked hacking group Handala has entered the fray, claiming credit for wiping systems at medical technology firm Stryker, which confirmed the attack, as well as breaching payment device maker Verifone, which denied being breached.
Healthcare Hit Shows Symbols Matter as Iran Shifts Focus to Economic DamageCybersecurity experts say that the Handala "hacktivist" group that claimed credit for attacks against two American firms on Wednesday is run by the Iranian government. The shift to destructive cyberattacks parallels Iran's attempt to inflict greater economic damage on the United States and allies.
Many healthcare sector organizations are delaying to even begin contemplating - let alone strategizing - how to mitigate post-quantum risk - but procrastination is a major mistake, said Ali Youssef, director of emerging tech security, at Henry Ford Health.
To help strengthen the health ecosystem's overall incident response preparedness, the Health Sector Coordinating Council in coordination with the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center will in July host a first-ever nationwide virtual cyber exercise, said Greg Garcia, of the HSCC.
Iran Expands Targeting, Including AWS, Google and Microsoft InfrastructureMichigan-based medical technology giant Stryker appears to have been hacked by a pro-Iranian group called Handala, leading to global operations being disrupted, IT devices remotely wiped and terabytes of data being stolen. Experts said Handala appears to be a "faketivist" group run by Tehran.
What often appears to be turf wars between healthcare technology management, facilities OT staff, IT departments and security teams are often the result of unclear ownership and accountability for device security. And that presents safety risks to patients, says Mohammed Waqas, CTO of Armis.
Healthcare CISOs and their teams often contemplate the benefits of going passwordless in their organizations but face pushback from clinicians concerned that the new tech will slow down their access to critical patient care systems or disrupt their workflow.