How cybercrime is putting Healthcare Information at risk?

While they may have been hesitant initially, healthcare organizations have started to fully embrace cloud technology. In fact, a recent survey by HIMSS Analytics found that 83% of healthcare organizations are currently using cloud-based applications. Furthermore, the cloud computing market in healthcare is expected to grow at a 20.5% compound annual growth rate to reach $9.48 billion by 2020.

Thanks to increased adoption of healthcare technology, consumers are able to use mobile devices to access their medical information, monitor their vital signs and even take laboratory tests at home. Doctors are able to remotely monitor crucial metrics such as blood pressure readings or heart rates and use hand-held computers to record real-time patient data and instantly upload it to existing medical files.

Cloud-based technology has undoubtedly improved the efficiency and efficacy of the healthcare industry, however it’s also had an unfortunate, adverse effect: It’s made healthcare organizations and consumers more vulnerable to cybercrime.

The sheer volume of cloud-based applications and services being used by healthcare organizations has introduced significant cybersecurity risks, and often, healthcare professionals and their patients aren’t educated on how to use cloud technology safely. Many healthcare professionals and consumers continue to use insecure, personal computing devices to access confidential healthcare data and some applications and services don’t adhere to industry compliance and security requirements like HIPPA or HITECH, making them easy entry points for malicious hackers.

According to the Office of Civil Rights, the top ten data healthcare breaches from 2015 alone resulted in over 111 million patient records being compromised. Just this week, hackers infiltrated the World Anti-Doping Agency’s athlete database to expose private medical information concerning Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Simone Biles, and according to IDC’s Health Insights group, 1 in 3 healthcare recipients will be the victim of a healthcare data breach this year.

Today’s healthcare organizations are failing in the battle against cybercrime primarily because their IT teams are using an outdated arsenal of tools.