How To Prevent Cyber Attacks in Healthcare: Top Ways for Clinics

Healthcare companies hold vast amounts of sensitive data, making them prime targets for cyber attacks. In 2023 only, more than 133 mln records were exposed as a result of data breaches.

If your clinic falls victim to a cyber attack, this can lead to financial losses, damage to reputation, and legal issues. More importantly, it can compromise patient care and safety.?

If you want to keep patients trusting your clinic, preventing potential cyber attacks is a must for you. Read this guide to learn the best ways to protect your medical data from cyber threats and key steps to address them promptly.

The Shocking Costs of Healthcare Cybersecurity Attacks

The healthcare industry recorded the highest average costs of data breaches among other sectors between March 2022 and March 2023 adding up to USD 10.93 million per breach. These breaches often involve numerous cost aspects that negatively impact the financial health of medical companies.?

This includes the money spent to find out what happened, investigate the breach, and secure the system to prevent future security issues. Hospitals might also need to hire security and legal experts to help fix everything.

Yet, the expenses related to security breaches don't end here. In the process and after a cybersecurity incident, clinics may experience disruptions to their operations. During 2016 - 2023, the cost of such downtime because of ransomware attacks was estimated at USD 77.5 bln in the U.S.?

The Impact of Healthcare Cybersecurity Breaches on Medical Companies

The negative influence of cyber attacks on medical entities extends far beyond immediate financial issues. Data breaches affect their reputation, disrupt clinical operations, and compromise compliance with industry regulations.?

Financial Losses

Cyber attacks are expensive to handle. They cost money to fix, and hospitals might have to pay fines if they don’t protect patient data well. There can also be legal costs if patients decide to sue them.

Reputation Damage

Trust is everything in healthcare. A security breach can cause long-time patients to turn their backs on your clinic, driving them to seek care elsewhere. What’s more, attracting new patients is more expensive than retaining existing ones, especially if your hospital’s reputation isn’t perfect.

Operational Disruptions

Cyber attacks can cause disruptions to healthcare operations. The shutdown of critical systems can delay surgeries, outpatient services, and other procedures, potentially putting patient lives at risk.

Regulatory Penalties

If sensitive information leaks, patients might sue your hospital. This adds to the financial burden and can damage your company’s reputation even more.

Higher Insurance Costs

After a cybersecurity incident, insurers might increase costs because a breached hospital will be associated with bigger risks.

Impact on Long-Term Plans

Dealing with a cyber attack takes resources away from other projects like upgrading the tech stack or expanding services. As a result, your company may lose its ability to grow and remain competitive in the healthcare market.

Best Practices for Data Security from Top Healthcare Companies?

Leading players in the industry know a lot about data safety risks. Their best practices for cybersecurity can help you make good decisions about safeguarding your clinic from data breaches.

Robust Incident Response Protocols?

At Cleveland Clinic , they take a smart and flexible approach to cybersecurity, working closely with the government and partners to protect patient data. This strategy includes using the latest technology like artificial intelligence to stay ahead of cyber threats and make sure they can handle any security breaches quickly and effectively.

Constant Threat Monitoring?

Mayo Clinic focuses on staying ahead of cyber threats. They actively monitor potential security risks and build their systems to be as secure as possible to prevent vulnerabilities. This approach helps them effectively manage and prevent cyber risks.

Hospital Security Training

Mass General Brigham introduced tools to reduce risky emails and improve safety measures across the company. They focus on educating staff about phishing, marking emails from outside the organization, checking links before they're opened, and assessing new devices for possible risks.

What To Do When a Cyber Attack Happens: Key Steps for Immediate Response

If a cyber attack strikes your healthcare entity, make sure to take quick and efficient actions to mitigate damage. Here’s a short step-by-step guide from my team on what to do:

1. Immediate Identification and Isolation

Detect and identify the attack (e.g., ransomware, data breach, phishing) to understand the potential impact and the best approach for containment. Isolate the affected systems to prevent the spread of the negative impact. This might involve taking servers offline, disconnecting internet access for affected devices, and disabling specific services.

2. Activate the Incident Response Plan

The incident response plan should always be prepared in advance and be readily accessible. It should include specific steps and procedures for dealing with cyber attacks across your clinic.?

3. Engage with Stakeholders and Cybersecurity Experts

Communicate with internal teams to ensure they are aware of the breach and understand their roles. Notify affected patients, partners, and regulatory bodies as required by law. Bring in cybersecurity experts to assess the breach, help with containment, and begin forensic analysis.?

4. Document the Incident Details

Keep detailed records of the cyber attack, including how it was discovered, what systems were affected, and the steps taken to respond. This documentation will help you a lot during the post-incident reviews and potential legal matters.

These primary steps will help you provide an immediate response to a cybersecurity attack.?

Of course, there are more actions to take further, such as post-incident analysis, revision of security measures, and continuous monitoring.

Strategies To Mitigate Cybersecurity Threats in Healthcare?

The best response to cyber threats is their timely prevention. Consider the proven strategies listed below to protect sensitive data and prevent cyber attacks at your clinic.?

Defence In Depth?

Implement multiple layers of security controls throughout your medical systems. This can include firewalls, VPNs, secure email gateways, and multi-factor authentication. Even if one layer is breached, others can stand to protect the sensitive data.

Endpoint Protection

Ensure all devices connected to the network are secured with up-to-date antivirus software and intrusion detection systems. This helps prevent malware infections that can lead to data breaches.

Network Segmentation

Divide the network into smaller and controlled segments. This limits the spread of cyber threats within the system and allows for controlled access to sensitive information. For instance, AWS Virtual Private Cloud can create multiple subnetworks, which can be either public or private. This setup provides an added layer of security by isolating parts of the network that contain sensitive information.

Training Programs

Your employees are often the first to face a cyber attack, so they need to know how to deal with it. Regularly train your team on the latest cybersecurity techniques to avoid phishing attacks and raise their awareness on preventing potential breaches.

Regular Vulnerability Assessments

Conduct regular assessments to identify and address vulnerabilities in the system. Penetration testing helps simulate cyber attacks to test the resilience of your security measures. You can also use Amazon Detective, a tool that makes it easy to analyze, investigate, and quickly identify the root cause of potential security issues or suspicious activities.

Advanced Threat Detection Tools

Implement tools that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect unusual patterns and potential threats in real-time. These tools can quickly identify and mitigate threats before they cause harm. For instance, Amazon Macie uses machine learning to automatically discover, classify, and protect sensitive data in AWS.

Data Encryption

Encrypt sensitive data at rest and in transit. Even if data is intercepted, encryption ensures that no one can read it without the encryption key.

Authentication Measures

Implement strong authentication measures, such as multi-factor authentication, to ensure that access to sensitive systems and data is controlled and secure.

Regular Software Updates

Keep all systems and software up-to-date with the latest security patches. Outdated systems are easier for cybercriminals to exploit.

Least Privilege Principle

Ensure that all users have the minimum level of access necessary to perform their jobs. This principle minimizes the potential damage that can happen from a compromised account or insider threat by limiting how much of the network any single user can access.??

Note that not all security threats come from the outside. Sometimes, the danger may come from malicious intent or human error from the inside. Consider implementing tools like Amazon GuardDuty to detect and mitigate harmful activities within your organization.?

Top 3 Failures and How To Avoid Them

Addressing the common cybersecurity mistakes can help you strengthen your defenses against threats.

Failure To Update Software

Many cyber attacks exploit known vulnerabilities in outdated software. You can prevent this by implementing a strict policy for regular updates and patches to ensure security measures are up-to-date.

Inadequate Response to Detected Threats

Delayed or inadequate response to detected threats can lead to significant breaches. Establishing an incident response plan that includes immediate containment and mitigation strategies can help prevent this.

Poor Access Management

Allowing too many employees to access sensitive data can lead to breaches. Implement the principle of least privilege and regularly review access permissions to mitigate this risk.

If you need more tips on safeguarding your systems from security breaches, drop a “+” in the comments. I will send you a full checklist on preventing cyber attacks in healthcare.