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.
Critical Vulnerability Could Give Attackers Foothold in Clinical NetworksFederal authorities and industry officials are urging healthcare sector entities to address a critical flaw in BeyondTrust Remote Support and Privileged Remote Access software, which if exploited, could give an attacker a foothold inside a hospital or clinic network.
Hospital, ER Open but All Clinics, Elective Care Cancelled Statewide; FBI Called InThe University of Mississippi Medical Center on Thursday said a ransomware attack has triggered its emergency operations plan and forced its hospitals to cancel all clinic and elective procedures at all locations statewide.
Access, Vulnerability Management, Configuration LapsesA federal watchdog agency inspection of information security at the VA health system in Spokane, Wash. last year found deficiencies across three areas - configuration management, vulnerability management and access controls - that could potentially put sensitive data at risk, a new report said.
Cybercrime Gang Allegedly Stole 4.7 Terabytes of Data, Affecting 2.5MNorton Healthcare, which operates nine hospitals and other care facilities in Kentucky and Indiana, has agreed to pay $11 million to settle class action litigation stemming from a 2023 data theft attack by ransomware-as-a-service gang Alphv/BlackCat that affected nearly 2.5 million people.
Cybercrime Group First Listed Ohio Health System as a Data Theft Victim Last JuneOhio-based Kettering Health is notifying current and former patients and "affiliates" that their personal, health and financial information was potentially compromised in a May 2025 ransomware attack and data theft incident claimed by cybercriminal gang Interlock.
AI chatbots rank as the number-one health tech hazard in 2026, followed by "digital darkness" and legacy medical device cyber issues, said Rob Schluth and Scott Luney, technology and security experts at patient safety group ECRI Institute, which compiles an annual top 10 list. They explained why.
New HHS Enforcement Program Focuses on Patient Confidentiality, Aligning With HIPAAThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched a new breach reporting website and guidance materials to support its duties of enforcing compliance mandates that went into effect Monday to better align the confidentiality of substance use disorder records with the HIPAA privacy rule.