2022 Mid-Year Cybersecurity Report

July 29, 2022

Cybersecurity remains among the top concerns for hospital leaders to protect patients, staff, and health care operations across the country.

A new report from the cybersecurity firm Fortified Health Security identified the growing cybersecurity challenge in health care and what leaders can do to protect their organizations from these cyber threats.

“The not-so-good news is that the threats facing health care continue to evolve, grow at a faster rate, and become more sophisticated,” the report notes.

Among the key takeaways:

• A challenging year:  2021 was a record-setting year for data breaches, with more than 27.5 million patient records affected during the first six months of the year. Data breaches are trending down about 40 percent through the first six months of this year, but remain 138 percent above the 2020 total.
• Deploying ‘Red Teams’:  Simulated exercises can help identify weaknesses within your health system’s network and areas that bad actors could exploit to infiltrate your systems.
• Artificial intelligence/automation:  Organizations with no security AI/automation averaged 239 days to identify a breach and 85 days to contain it. That’s compared to 184 days to identify the breach and 63 days for those employing the technology.
• Know your stats:  Identify the key metrics to evaluate and improve your cyber preparedness (viruses observed per month, response times, network patching)
• The role of human error:  About 82 percent of breaches involved a human element, such as stolen credentials and phishing.

The report is available to review online.

HAP is committed to supporting Pennsylvania’s hospital community as it prepares for and responds to cybersecurity and data threats. Pennsylvania’s hospitals are focused on emergency preparedness and planning to protect patient information and deliver outstanding care in their communities.

For more information, contact Jason Tomashunas, MS, CHEP, HAP manager, emergency management.