Cyber-attacks are quickly becoming the biggest threat any healthcare organisation can face. The MediSecure breach alone impacted almost 13 million Australians, causing the company to go into voluntary administration not long after. This incident proves that the consequences of a cyber-attack can literally be life or death. Cyber security is not optional – it is an essential part of your operations.
But why is healthcare a top target for cyber security threats? And more importantly, is your allied health organisation doing enough to stop them?
What is Allied Health?
While there is no single, agreed-upon definition, allied health generally refers to a healthcare provider that is not a doctor, nurse, midwife, or dentist. Despite this, they are still able to treat patients. Some examples might include:
- Physiotherapists
- Radiographers
- Occupational therapists
- Medical laboratory scientists
- Speech-language pathologists
- Dietitians
In order to operate, they must still fulfill a set of criteria including a nationally recognised university degree and a clearly defined scope of practice. They must also, like all businesses operating in Australia, comply with data protection laws. Allied health organisations aren’t exempt from maintaining a strong cyber security posture.
Why is Healthcare a Top Target for Cyber Security Threats?
In recent years, healthcare has become a huge target for threat actors. There are many reasons for this:
High-Value Data
The rule of thumb for cybercriminals is that the more sensitive data is, the more value it holds. Medical information is among the most delicate and, when stolen, the most damaging. It can be sold, used to extort your practice, or even leveraged to launch further attacks. This makes it worth the effort, in their eyes, to obtain.
Legacy Systems and Outdated Security
Healthcare providers often use outdated technology, also known as “legacy systems”. This is for a few reasons:
- Many practices run on tight budgets, making IT investments difficult to justify – especially for larger organisations such as hospitals.
- Healthcare practitioners are often resistant to new technologies, due to fears that patient care could be disrupted or their jobs might be made redundant.
- Other parts of the practice may not be compatible with modern solutions, significantly complicating integration.
The problem with this hesitance to modernise is that legacy systems are usually fraught with vulnerabilities – and threat actors are fully aware of this. They can easily exploit the security gaps present in older technology, giving them access to some of the highest-value data available for very little effort.
High-Pressure Work Environments
In healthcare, patients are your number one priority. This is a good thing – but unfortunately, it can also result in security being overlooked. Cybercriminals take advantage of this single-minded focus to sneak in under the radar. They can then bring all your operations to a halt, giving them the power to demand anything they want from you.
Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) Risks
The increasing use of smart medical devices (such as pacemarkers, insulin pumps, and remote monitoring tools) introduces a number of brand new vulnerabilities. These devices often don’t have proper security measures or even the capability to run them, making them an easy target.
The Biggest Cyber Security Threats in Healthcare
While all cyber-attacks present a threat to your organisation, some are more likely than others. Some of the biggest cyber security threats in healthcare include:
Ransomware Attacks
Threat actors encrypt critical data (such as patient records) and demand a ransom for their release. These attacks disrupt operations, delay treatment, and can cost you millions. To bypass the growing possibility of backups, many ransomware attacks now leverage double and triple extortion measures – they may threaten to release, sell, or even use stolen data for additional attacks if a payment is not made.
The worst part is that even if you pay up, you’re very unlikely to get your data back. Cybercriminals have no reason to fulfill their end of the bargain, and often carry out their threats anyway to profit twice from the same attack. For this reason, you should never pay the ransom – it usually only leaves you in an even worse position.
Phishing Scams
A phishing scam is when threat actors send deceptive emails, SMS messages (smishing), or phone calls (vishing) to you or your employees. They’re usually trying to get sensitive information, such as login credentials, or download malware onto company devices. These days, phishing scams can be incredibly difficult to spot due to modern technology making them more convincing. However, there are a few telltale signs:
- They try to induce a strong emotion such as fear.
- They don’t want recipients to independently verify information, and may actively attempt to stop them.
- They always ask their victim to perform an action, whether that means responding with their login details or going to a separate website.
Insider Threats
Healthcare employees often aren’t well-trained in cyber security, and may accidentally compromise data. They might share information through an unsafe channel, use poor password practices, or fail to implement multi-factor authentication (MFA). Either way, the result is the same: sensitive patient information is left completely vulnerable to anyone who wants it.
Supply Chain Attacks
Supply chain attacks are common in healthcare, due to their often heavy reliance on third-party hardware and software. This technique involves accessing your organisation through a different company with weaker security. For example, they might hack your main software provider and then infiltrate your business by sending malware disguised as an update. Since you’re likely to trust your vendors, threat actors know that you will probably not question this.
Cyber Security Benchmark: How Safe is Your Allied Health Practice?
When starting out, it may be extremely difficult to determine how strong your security posture is. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Have you conducted a recent cyber security risk assessment?
- How does your organisation compare to your closest competitors? What security measures do they use?
- How many cyber-attacks have you experienced in the last five years, compared to competitors?
- Have you experienced a major breach?
- Have you experienced any issues with regulators in the last few years? Have you ever been audited or sued for failing to protect data?
If you find yourself lacking, then now is the time to strengthen your defences.
Unique Cyber Security Challenges in Healthcare
As a healthcare provider, you’ll face several unique challenges compared to other industries. These may include:
Balancing Security and Accessibility
Patient data must be instantly accessible to provide the best care possible. This becomes a problem when implementing data security solutions, as many of these will slow down retrieval. It can be difficult to maintain security without impacting patient care.
Compliance with Complex Regulations
Healthcare providers are subject to a litany of rules that are only becoming more stringent as time passes. Complying with all of them at once can be extremely challenging, especially when they keep changing.
Securing Telehealth Services
Telehealth has become a popular service for patients who can’t or don’t want to attend healthcare appointments in-person. But securing it can be tricky. When connecting to an external line or network, you always lose some degree of control, making it easier for threat actors to gain access.
Regulatory Requirements: What are the Rules for Allied Health Professionals?
Allied health professionals still have to obey the same laws as every other medical practitioner operating within Australia. Failure to comply is taken very seriously – you could get fined or even lose your ability to practice. Worse still, the reputational damage can take years to recover from. Patients expect you to handle their personal information with care, and will leave if you can’t honour this.
Some of the laws you must follow include:
The Privacy Act and Australian Privacy Principles (APPs)
The Privacy Act governs how all businesses – including allied health professionals – handle personal and sensitive data. The Australian Privacy Principles are a security framework included as part of the Privacy Act, and outline best practices for storing and sharing information.
My Health Records Act 2012
This law authorises healthcare professionals to collect and store patient information in a nationwide database, allowing easier access – but only if data security standards are met. The level of security required is mostly based on the Privacy Act, which you must comply with anyway.
Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) Scheme
The NDB Scheme requires all businesses to report any significant data breaches that could cause harm to individuals. For you, this will include any cyber incident where patient records are breached.
State-Based Health Privacy Laws, and Foreign Regulations
As well as federal laws, each state has their own rules that you must follow. You could also be subject to regulations in other countries – for example, if you treat US citizens in any capacity, you’re required to obey the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It’s important to research every law you can, as you might be surprised by how many apply to your organisation.
The good news is that you can reach full compliance with most of these regulations just by implementing common-sense security measures. Laws are often worded in a scary and confusing way – but it’s much easier to avoid fines than you might suspect, as long as you do the right thing.
Cyber Security for Healthcare Providers: Solutions That Actually Work
Strong healthcare cyber security solutions can protect your data and help you mitigate risks. Here are some useful strategies:
Zero Trust Security:
The Zero Trust model operates on the principle of “Never trust, always verify”. This means you authenticate every single access attempt, no matter where it’s coming from. A Zero Trust strategy can help you avoid supply chain attacks and insider threats - both of which may appear to come from your own network.
Access Controls:
The golden rule here is: Staff should only be able to access the information they absolutely need. If it’s not relevant to their job, don’t give it to them. This step alone can significantly reduce your chances of experiencing a breach.
MFA:
MFA ensures that even if login credentials are stolen, threat actors can’t access your accounts.
The 3-2-1 Rule:
Three backups of all data should be stored, on two different mediums, and at least one should be off-site or in the cloud. This approach virtually eliminates the risk of data loss, unless a very unusual series of events takes place.
Network Segmentation:
Chop up your network into small sections that are easy to disconnect. This stops threat actors from moving around within your company, which in turn makes it much easier to remove them.
Education:
Set some time aside to teach your staff about secure data handling. Education on social engineering tactics, such as phishing scams, is especially important because these attacks rely on the victim not realising what’s happening.
Threat Detection:
Use threat detection tactics to spot cyber-attacks early. A cybercriminal’s goal is to hide for as long as possible. Threat detection takes this power away from them.
Planning for the Worst:
Develop an incident response plan and make sure everyone knows about it. The last thing you need during a cyber-attack is your staff running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
Drills, Exercises, and Penetration Tests:
Don’t rely on the idea that “in theory”, your security should be good enough. Test your defences and incident response procedures to make sure they actually work as intended.
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Healthcare Cybersecurity Frameworks
If you’re struggling, a healthcare cyber security framework can help you figure it out. These provide a clear, step-by-step guide that makes it much easier to cover all your bases. Some examples are:
- The Essential 8: An Australian framework that focuses on securing your business from every angle, with a handy Maturity Model to help you determine how well you’re doing.
- The NIST Framework: A global framework for cyber security created by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
- ISO 27001: An international standard for information security management.
Best Tools to Improve Your Security Posture
Next Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) and Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS)
These can protect you against unauthorised access and network intrusions. An NGFW focuses on stopping threat actors before they reach your organisation, while IDS is designed to detect attacks and alert you to the danger.
Endpoint Security Solutions
Platforms like Microsoft Intune and Arctic Wolf help you secure individual devices, even at a distance. This is very useful for preventing data breaches, as endpoints are often targeted.
Encryption
Make sure you’re using the best encryption available. At the moment, this is the Advanced Encryption Standard or AES, which is so trusted that even governments use it. Data should be encrypted at all times, whether it’s sitting in storage or moving from place to place. It can’t hurt to encrypt your emails, either, using the built-in tools many providers include.
The Future of Healthcare and Cyber Security: Trends to Watch
Keep an eye on these modern trends – they might change the face of healthcare cyber security in the near future.
- AI-driven threat detection will continue to improve, spotting and stopping cyber-attacks faster than ever before.
- The blockchain is becoming an important security tool due to the immutable records it provides.
- As quantum computing becomes a reality, current encryption algorithms will likely become completely obsolete.
- Managed IT is an increasingly popular option for organisations that can’t afford to handle cyber security on their own.
FAQs
How often should allied health professionals conduct security audits?
You should perform a security audit several times a year, and after any cyber-attacks or significant changes within the threat landscape. There is no real downside to an audit, so feel free to perform as many as your available resources allow.
What should be included in a healthcare cyber security policy?
Your policy should cover data handling practices, what security measures must be used, and how to report an incident. The point of a policy is to tell your staff what you expect of them, so be very clear and detailed.
How can small healthcare providers afford cyber security solutions?
If your organisation is on the smaller side, you might not be able to afford comprehensive security solutions. In this case, prioritise investments carefully based on your biggest threats, and consider outsourcing to a managed service provider (MSP).
Prepare Your Organisation for a Safer Digital Future
Cyber security challenges in healthcare are vast – but they’re not impossible to overcome. The right solutions, supported by strong policies and outsourcing where necessary, can significantly reduce your risk of experiencing an attack and the drastic consequences that follow. Cyber security isn’t as complex as it might first appear, as long as you’re armed with the necessary knowledge. Some careful planning now could save you a lot of trouble down the road.
Are you struggling to beef up your defences? Vandros specialises in helping Australian allied health practitioners overcome their biggest challenges, using modern solutions that target common vulnerabilities. We ensure that no matter what happens, your data is accessible and secure. Interested? Use our calculator to get a quote today.
