Stay updated with the latest healthcare cybersecurity trends, news, and tips to protect patient data and comply with medical industry security standards.
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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.
Healthcare organizations should prepare for post-quantum cryptography without overreacting to hype, said John Frushour, CISO of New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Stronger encryption standards, commercial software support and attention to medical devices can help providers manage emerging risks.
iRhythm: Patient Information and 'Proprietary' Data Breached, Held for RansomCardiac monitoring firm iRhythm Technologies has told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that hackers recently stole proprietary data and patient health information from "certain" third-party-hosted business applications, and demanded a ransom. The company did not disclose whether it paid.
FDA's draft guidance for AI-enabled medical devices reflects a major change in how regulators address software that changes over time, recognizing AI's ability to evolve while emphasizing patient safety, transparency and accountability, said Phil Englert of the Health-ISAC.
FDA's draft guidance for AI-enabled medical devices reflects a major change in how regulators address software that changes over time, recognizing AI's ability to evolve while emphasizing patient safety, transparency and accountability, said Phil Englert of the Health-ISAC.
Diagnostics Lab Reported 10.3M Patients Affected by Collection Agency's HackMedical laboratory testing giant Labcorp has agreed to pay $35 million to settle class action litigation stemming from a 2018 hacking incident on now-defunct American Medical Collections Agency. Labcorp reported the vendor breach in 2019 as affecting nearly 10.3 million patients.