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.
While AI platforms and tools promise to offer encouraging potential in healthcare, many are unprepared to deal with the risks these emerging technologies pose - similar to the early days of social media, said Keith Fricke, co-managing partner and principal consultant at tw-Security.
While artificial intelligence platforms and tools promise to offer encouraging potential in healthcare, many are unprepared to deal with the risks these emerging technologies pose - similar to the early days of social media, said Keith Fricke, partner and principal of tw-Security.
Under the Trump administration, the proposed update to the HIPAA Security Rule - issued in the final weeks of the Biden administration - is likely to get trimmed but not totally cut, predicts regulatory attorney Sharon Klein of the law firm Blank Rome. What else should the health sector expect?
Exploring New Ways to Deliver and Measure Cybersecurity Awareness ProgramsRegulations like GDPR, HIPAA and CMMC have made security awareness training a staple of corporate security programs. But compliance is only part of the story. Organizations face an even deeper challenge: influencing employee behavior in ways that create a truly secure workplace.
HHS' Privacy Rule Update Limits Use, Disclosure of Reproductive Health PHIA Biden administration HIPAA Privacy Rule that went into effect last June to restrict the disclosure of reproductive health information is being challenged in federal court by the attorneys general of 15 states. The AGs are asking a Tennessee federal court to overturn the rule.
7 Texas Health and Human Services Workers Fired in Incident Affecting 61,000 peopleAuthorities in Texas are investigating an insider incident at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission that led to the firing of seven employees, an investigation into hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen funds and notification of a breach of personal information affecting 61,000 people.
Netwrix claims 84% of healthcare organizations detected a cyber-attack in the past year
Initiative Aims to Bolster Security of EU Member Hospitals, Healthcare ProvidersThe European Commission has a new action plan to strengthen cybersecurity of the hospitals and other healthcare providers in the European Union from rising cyberthreats and attacks. The plan includes a cybersecurity support center to offer guidance and other resources to the EU's health sector.
Elizabeth Warren Letter Probes Kennedy on His Plans if Confirmed as HHS SecretarySenate confirmation hearings have not yet been set for President Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But that hasn't stopped at least one lawmaker from already firing off an extensive list of questions to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including about HIPAA.