Healthcare providers in the US is likely to be forced to beef up their cybersecurity practices within the wake of recent proposals made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
It proposes recent measures that might require healthcare services providers to implement multi-factor authentication and encryption on patient data, with a view to safeguard such information within the event of an information breach. As well as, organizations would also face enhanced compliance checks to be sure that their computer networks adhere to existing cybersecurity rules around patient data.
Reuters said Saturday that the proposals are actually undergoing a 60-day public comment period, which can allow healthcare providers and other stakeholders to offer feedback. There may perhaps be some opposition to the proposed changes though, considering the big cost required to implement them. Based on U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology Anne Neuberger, implementing the brand new proposals could cost as much as $9 billion throughout the first yr, and $6 billion in the next two years.
Nevertheless, Neuberger argued that the rule changes are obligatory to assist fend off the expansion of so-called ransomware attacks within the healthcare industry. She said the number of enormous security breaches involving healthcare firms that fell victim to ransomware has increased by 102% since 2019. She added that healthcare data is now commonly being traded across the dark web, and may be utilized by hackers and other cybercriminals to potentially blackmail individuals.
Based on Reuters, the proposals are available the wake of diverse high-profile data breaches involving U.S. healthcare providers. For example, in February 2024, an attack on UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s subsidiary Change Healthcare resulted in the private data of greater than 100 million Americans being exposed, disrupting that organization’s pharmacy services and billing systems.
Change Healthcare’s chief executive officer Andrew Witty said on the time said the hackers were in a position to remotely access its systems, which didn’t have multi-factor authentication enabled.
In one other incident in May, the healthcare firm Ascension Health Alliance fell victim to a cyberattack that knocked out the knowledge technology systems at most of its hospitals, forcing some doctors to resort to using pen-and-paper records again.
Image: SiliconANGLE/Freepik AI
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