Page 105 - Cyber Defense Magazine for August 2020
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HIPAA Compliance and The Protection of Cyber Security
By Andrew Mikhailov, CTO at Zfort Group
Businesses face the risk of severe cyber-attacks - the present-day cyberspace criminals are well-
organized, thoughtful, and marketable. And one of the most sensitive sectors exposed to privacy
risk is the healthcare system. If hackers manage to get in, they would have access to patient health
data, which they could sell to global entities with evil intentions.
About 15% of all data breaches in 2019 involved the healthcare system. As a result, the estimated losses
for this industry in 2019 reached $25 billion. "Over the last three years, the number of breaches, lost
medical records, and settlements of fines is staggering. During this span, nearly 140 million
medical records were involved in a privacy breach", - writes Eric Thompson, a cyber security leader
in his book.
In 2019, an Israeli cyber security center found a computer virus that added tumors into MRI and CT
scans. This malware could also remove actual malignant growths from image files to prevent patients
from getting the care they need. The researchers showed the safety holes to sow doubt about the
health of government figures, commit insurance fraud, or be part of a terrorist attack.
Cyber Defense eMagazine – August 2020 Edition 105
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