Why Hospital Cybersecurity is More Than Protecting Patient Data

Today, hospitals are more than just medical facilities to be referred to for surgery or emergency healthcare needs; they’re complex ecosystems of interconnected servers housing valuable patient data. 

Though modern medicine and the systems and servers used to store data have allowed quicker and safer patient care, they are also frequent targets of cybercriminals. Since the healthcare industry, especially hospital networks and medical facilities is a frequent target of cyber attacks, it is important to have a ransomware resilience tool prior to an attack.

If BullWall Ransomware Containment is in place when a cybercriminal attack happens, the spread will be halted, compromised devices will be instantly isolated, and encryption will be prevented. 

In addition to ​​a well-thought-out business continuity plan and continued employee training on the latest in phishing and malware, having BullWall Server Intrusion Protection on servers is a health industry cybersecurity best practice. It secures servers and remote access by preventing unauthorized access, ensuring that intruders who gain entry cannot take further action.

Since the healthcare industry continues to push more patient information digitally, which is advantageous for patients because it reduces the wait time for services and test results, it also means that medical records & treatment plans are located on servers, which hackers work to access. 

Additionally, many of the life-saving pieces of equipment at hospitals are also reliant on servers, meaning that patient data is constantly at risk. Imagine if a surgeon cannot access a patient’s data, as needed, in the middle of a life-saving procedure or a pharmacist cannot dispense medications due to a system outage. 

The threats of cybercriminals penetrating a hospital’s cybersecurity shield are real and evolving. These attacks have real-world consequences, like 2024’s Change Healthcare’s network breach, which compromised the data of an estimated 100 million people while it was live for nine days. The data stolen included names, contact information, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, health information, insurance information, and billing information. This ransomware attack has cost UnitedHealth Group over 2.4 billion dollars.

Don’t wait for a cyberattack to expose vulnerabilities in your devices and servers. Take action today by contacting our team to learn more. You can also choose to schedule an assessment of your security tools or see BullWall in action with a unique, 30-minute demo showing actual ransomware variants in different environments, allowing you to see how BullWall responds to those attacks.