{"id":15168,"date":"2016-05-03T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?p=15168"},"modified":"2020-12-24T04:44:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-24T12:44:17","slug":"healthcare-hackers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthcare Hackers"},"content":{"rendered":"

In December of 2014, MIT Technology Review<\/a> declared 2015 the \u201cYear of the Hospital Hack.\u201d Unfortunately, their prediction came to pass. By the end of 2015, Websense researchers reported a 600% surge in cyber-attacks on hospitals \u2013 and that number is only expected to climb. Both the Ponemon Institute<\/a> and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse<\/a> have identified health care\"shutterstock_161163632\"<\/a> data particularly susceptible to cyber-attacks.<\/p>\n

A Top Target<\/strong><\/p>\n

As we reported last month<\/a>, the threat of ransomware continues to grow, and hospitals, in particular, are in the crosshairs. With assaults escalating every day, healthcare facilities face a tricky balancing act as they weigh the benefits of technology against the need for security.<\/p>\n

While 2015 saw a significant uptick in cyber-attacks at hospitals and other healthcare facilities, 2016 is shaping up to be even worse. During the first few months of the year, four major hospitals \u2013 Canada\u2019s Ottawa Hospital, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, Medstar Washington, and Kentucky\u2019s Methodist Hospital \u2013 were on the receiving end of a ransomware aggression. In each case, hackers held the facility captive by demanding bitcoin payments to release their computer systems.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, experts warn the healthcare industry will continue to experience these types of scenarios. Even worse, these attacks could result in a whole host of dire consequences, including some with life-threatening implications.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne can imagine how detrimental it would be if someone was in the middle of a major operation and suddenly all of their health records became unavailable,\u201d says Malwarebytes security researcher J\u00e9r\u00f4me Segura.<\/p>\n

Data Rich Targets<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carl Leonard, principal security analyst for Websense believes hospital hacks are alluring because of the type information stored by medical facilities. Medical records, which often contain social security numbers, dates of birth and other sensitive information, can provide enough material to \u201cbuild a near complete picture of an individual,\u201d a profile which can fetch hundreds of dollars when sold to third-parties.<\/p>\n

Segura sums up the situation in an article Gizmodo<\/a>, saying, \u201cHospitals are in a very different category when it comes to ransomware. The kind of data they hold is very confidential but also very critical to people\u2019s actual lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don Jackson, director of threat intelligence at security firm PhishLabs also points to the decreased value of credit card information as another incentive. As stolen numbers have flooded the black market, there\u2019s an increased demand for more data-rich targets.<\/p>\n

Jackson tells MIT that many hackers have \u201calmost a big data mentality,\u201d with the ability to correlate disparate sets of stolen files into one comprehensive identity. As hospitals increase their dependence on centralized data collection and access, they also expand the type and amount of information subject to ransomware infiltrations.<\/p>\n

High Tech and High Stakes<\/strong><\/p>\n

For healthcare facilities, advances in software and data collection are helping keep costs down while streamlining care and improving morale for staff and residents. Unfortunately, as Leonard points out, both the switch to electronic medical records and insufficient security protocols\u00a0are two main reasons ransomware occurrences are growing in frequency and intensity.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the adoption of internet-connected medical gear provides new entry points for cyber criminals. Too many facilities have weak Wi-Fi security while also failing to password-protect connected devices. Medical equipment is also at risk. For example, MRI scanners and surgical apparatuses can easily be hijacked<\/a>. Even defibrillators and X-ray machines are not immune<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Layered Security<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Ted Harrington, the security researcher who led an Independent Security Evaluators\u2019 investigation into hospital cyber-attacks, the solution is simple: focus on preparation, capital, and responsiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur research demonstrated that healthcare organizations have woefully inadequate staffing, funding, training, network awareness, and many other shortcomings,\u201d he tells Gizmodo. \u201cOnce healthcare organizations adapt to how much risk they are absorbing through these shortcomings, they will be better equipped to defend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Offense for Defense<\/strong><\/p>\n

Machiavelli believed success in war involved destroying an enemy\u2019s ability to attack. It turns out this strategy can also be applied to ransomware. The latest software developed for the healthcare industry comes equipped with multiple levels of security designed to declaw a hacker before he can get near a company\u2019s database.<\/p>\n

Users of Yardi software are already experiencing this type of top-notch protection. Clients can operate all aspects of their senior living business confidently; secure in the knowledge that all their data \u2013 from patient records to accounting information and other sensitive material \u2013 is protected by the best security measures available in the industry, including guaranteed data recovery and around-the-clock monitoring of server operation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thethreat of ransomware continues to grow, and hospitals in particular, are in the crosshairs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":14840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_s2mail":"yes","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1109,1495,76],"class_list":["post-15168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-health-care","tag-ransomware","tag-technology-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYardi Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thethreat of ransomware continues to grow, and hospitals in particular, are in the crosshairs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Healthcare Hackers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thethreat of ransomware continues to grow, and hospitals in particular, are in the crosshairs.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Yardi Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-03T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-24T12:44:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/03\/shutterstock_161163632.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"718\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cutright Elizabeth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cutright Elizabeth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/\",\"name\":\"Healthcare Hackers - Yardi Corporate Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/03\/shutterstock_161163632.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-03T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-24T12:44:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dba832121806bbec3d280d6cdde90b4d\"},\"description\":\"Thethreat of ransomware continues to grow, and hospitals in particular, are in the crosshairs.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/03\/shutterstock_161163632.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/03\/shutterstock_161163632.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":718},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Healthcare Hackers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Yardi Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dba832121806bbec3d280d6cdde90b4d\",\"name\":\"Cutright Elizabeth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4016b5eabd512619820fc63946d01cd983acc211f98fbc559a890a5b4b27c559?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4016b5eabd512619820fc63946d01cd983acc211f98fbc559a890a5b4b27c559?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cutright Elizabeth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth Cutright is an award-winning writer and editor with over 20 years of experience in journalism, publishing and online content creation. A film school grad with a law degree from the University of San Diego, outside of work Elizabeth can usually be found in the pool, on a hiking trail, or sampling Santa Barbara\u2019s latest vintage.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth-cutright-2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yardi Blog","description":"Thethreat of ransomware continues to grow, and hospitals in particular, are in the crosshairs.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Healthcare Hackers","og_description":"Thethreat of ransomware continues to grow, and hospitals in particular, are in the crosshairs.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/","og_site_name":"Yardi Blog","article_published_time":"2016-05-03T12:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-24T12:44:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":718,"url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/03\/shutterstock_161163632.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cutright Elizabeth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cutright Elizabeth","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/","name":"Healthcare Hackers - Yardi Corporate Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/03\/shutterstock_161163632.jpg","datePublished":"2016-05-03T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-24T12:44:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dba832121806bbec3d280d6cdde90b4d"},"description":"Thethreat of ransomware continues to grow, and hospitals in particular, are in the crosshairs.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/03\/shutterstock_161163632.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/03\/shutterstock_161163632.jpg","width":1000,"height":718},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/healthcare-hackers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Healthcare Hackers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/","name":"Yardi Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dba832121806bbec3d280d6cdde90b4d","name":"Cutright Elizabeth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4016b5eabd512619820fc63946d01cd983acc211f98fbc559a890a5b4b27c559?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4016b5eabd512619820fc63946d01cd983acc211f98fbc559a890a5b4b27c559?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cutright Elizabeth"},"description":"Elizabeth Cutright is an award-winning writer and editor with over 20 years of experience in journalism, publishing and online content creation. A film school grad with a law degree from the University of San Diego, outside of work Elizabeth can usually be found in the pool, on a hiking trail, or sampling Santa Barbara\u2019s latest vintage.","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth-cutright-2\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/03\/shutterstock_161163632.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15168"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15410,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15168\/revisions\/15410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}