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.
Comparitech found that healthcare ransomware attacks rose 4% in H1 2025, a significantly lower rate than the cross-sector average of 50%
Incidents Rank Among the Top Five Health Data Breaches in 2025 - So FarA Maryland dermatology practice and a Virginia radiology organization have each reported to regulators separate hacking incidents that in total affected the information of more than 3.3 million patients. The incidents rank among the five largest health data breaches reported in 2025 so far.
Most Compromises Trace to Financial Services, Healthcare, Professional ServicesData breaches rage on. In the first half of this year, the Identity Theft Resource Center counted 1,732 total data breaches affecting 166 million people, marking a rise in data breaches but a decline in victims, likely due to a drop in mega-breaches.
Organizations in 12 States Hit by 2024 Integrated Oncology Network Phishing CaseAt least two dozen cancer care centers and oncology practices in 12 states are reporting to federal regulators that nearly 123,000 patients were affected by a 2024 email phishing breach involving its parent organization, Integrated Oncology Network, which is owned by Cardinal Health.
A data breach at Episource has exposed the personal information of 5.4 million individuals after attackers accessed systems for 10 days
The flood of new artificial intelligence tools, including those to help cybersecurity teams, can overwhelm healthcare CISOs and their security staff, fueling "AI fatigue" that in itself can create additional cyber risk, said Drew Henderson and Jon Hilton, practice leaders at consulting firm LBMC.
Smaller and rural hospitals and clinics, as well as federally qualified health centers, are constantly battling cybersecurity resource constraints, and especially serious workforce shortages, said Jennifer Stoll of OHINC, a nonprofit provider of health IT services and products.