The healthcare industry is no stranger to cybersecurity and cyberattacks. Hospitals, especially due to their large assets, are frequent targets of these attacks. These attacks prevent files and systems from being accessed until the attackers receive a payment. And these aren’t minor payments. Attackers are greedy, with the average paid ransom by healthcare firms in 2018 being just under $30,000. Paying the ransomware, however, is actually not recommended as it only encourages more attacks of this type. However, whether the ransom is paid or not, there is a risk of the data never being recovered. The fact that the industry is so nonchalant about healthcare cybersecurity means that they are at serious risk…
Does the Healthcare Industry have Healthy Cybersecurity?
First and foremost, healthcare cybersecurity is paramount. The healthcare sector encompasses a wide array of organizations engaged in the most crucial, intricate, and data-intensive operations, all revolving around our well-being. As such, this industry obtains highly unique, significant data. The value of the data within the healthcare industry, which is largely personal health information (Personal Health Records), can sell for over 100x more than Personally Identifiable Information (PII) on the black market. Making this sector an attractive target for bad actors.
Today, the healthcare industry is benefiting from a close relationship with technology. Thanks to all the advantages it has provided hospitals, pharmacies, laboratories and more. However, this means greater risks of cyberattacks occurring.
Healthcare Cybersecurity
In the realm of healthcare cybersecurity, the year 2018 witnessed 365 data breaches, averaging to one breach per day. These incidents laid bare over 13 million records, highlighting the sector’s vulnerability. The health sector is also susceptible to malware attacks, especially those of ransomware attacks, which make up 39% of malware-related attacks. Ransomware attacks will encrypt the target’s data until a payment is made. Whereby the decryption key still only might be provided.
Rogue devices are becoming an increasingly used attack tool. Due to their invisibility to security software since the attack occurs on the Physical Layer. Spoofed peripherals attached to an organization’s network or endpoint can perform exfiltration and injection actions, enabling data withdrawal or malware installation.
Rogue Devices
In the domain of healthcare cybersecurity, rogue devices (RDM) are peripherals that malicious actors have manipulated to act with malicious intent. They have the ability to carry out various types of malware attacks, including ransomware attacks, and data breaches. The aforementioned vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure can all be exploited by rogue devices. Making them a useful attack tool for perpetrators, but a dangerous enemy for the victim. Most importantly, these devices not only look genuine to the human eye but also go undetected by security software solutions. Which simply identify them as legitimate human interface devices (Hacked Device), such as a mouse or a keyboard, and therefore will not raise any EPS/EDR alerts. Network implants and Spoofed devices attacks occur on the Physical Layer (Layer 1), which the existing security software, mainly NAC and IDS does not cover.
Main Benefits of Sepio’s Solution
Sepio’s Asset Risk Management (ARM) platform provides comprehensive visibility and control over hardware assets. By leveraging unique physical layer hardware fingerprinting technology, Sepio detects and mitigates rogue devices. Ensuring organizations have full visibility of all hardware devices, from endpoints to connected devices (IT/OT/IoT).
With predefined granular policies, Sepio enables compliance, regulation, and best practices. Offering a fast and easy setup without the need for baselining or whitelisting. The platform integrates seamlessly with existing security platforms, enhancing mitigation and remediation capabilities.
Protect your healthcare organization from cyber threats with Sepio’s innovative solution. Gain control over asset risks, detect known and shadow assets, and prioritize risk mitigation. By embracing Sepio’s Asset Risk Management platform, you fortify your ability to safeguard patient data, guarantee uninterrupted operational continuity, and stand resilient against the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare cybersecurity challenges.
See every known and shadow asset. Prioritize and mitigate risks.
Talk to an expert. It will help you understand how to use Sepio’s patented technology to gain control of your asset risks.
