Healthcare under attack

One in five healthcare organisations reported a change in senior leadership (21%) or lawsuits (19%) as attack consequences, compared to 13% among other sectors surveyed.

  • Wednesday, 22nd January 2025 Posted 2 months ago in by Phil Alsop

Netwrix surveyed 1,309 IT and security professionals globally and today released findings for the healthcare sector based on the data collected.

It reveals that 84% of organisations in the healthcare sector spotted a cyberattack on their infrastructure within the last 12 months. Phishing was the most common type of incident experienced on premises, similar to other industries. Account compromise topped the list for cloud attacks: 74% of healthcare organisations that spotted a cyberattack reported user or admin account compromise.

“Healthcare workers regularly communicate with many people they do not know — patients, laboratory assistants, external auditors and more — so properly vetting every message is a huge burden. Plus, they do not realise how critical it is to be cautious, since security awareness training often takes a back seat to the urgent work of taking care of patients. Combined, these factors can lead to a higher rate of security incidents,” says Dirk Schrader, VP of Security Research and Field CISO EMEA at Netwrix.

A cyberattack resulted in financial damage for 69% of healthcare organisations, compared to 60% among other industries. One in five healthcare organisations that suffered an attack experienced a change in senior leadership (21%) or lawsuits (19%) as a result, compared to 13% for each of these outcomes among all industries surveyed.

“Due to the sensitivity of the protected health information (PHI) data, breaches can cause severe concerns among the general public and various stakeholders. On top of that, healthcare is a highly regulated industry where organisations face strict penalties for non-compliance. Together, these factors lead to a higher-than-average likelihood of lawsuits. At the same time, organisations can feel pressured to change IT or even executive leadership to signal their commitment to addressing security issues and rebuilding trust,” says Ilia Sotnikov, Security Strategist at Netwrix.

Failure to prioritise testing and integrate generative AI tools raises concerns as agentic AI adds pressure.

CIOs 'overspend' on cloud

Posted 4 days ago by Phil Alsop
43% of CIOs say their CEOs and/or board of directors have concerns about their company’s cloud spend.
Research revealed at Coterie Connect event highlights shifting team structures, evolving skills priorities, and urgent training needed for partner...
Endava has launched its latest research report “AI and the Digital Shift: Reinventing the Business Landscape”.

3,000% surge in enterprise use of AI/ML tools

Posted 1 week ago by Phil Alsop
Zscaler has released the ThreatLabz 2025 AI Security Report, based on insights from more than 536 billion AI transactions processed between February...
Over one in four (28%) British small business owners have used AI tools to help run their business.

Tech fragmentation cited as biggest cyber challenge

Posted 1 week ago by Phil Alsop
New Palo Alto Networks data shows 82% of UK organisations confident in their use of AI, despite AI being identified as biggest cyber risk for 2025.
MIT researchers crafted a new approach that could allow anyone to run operations on encrypted data without decrypting it first.