Research from Accenture and the American Medical Association (AMA) reveals a sobering statistic about cybersecurity: “more than four in five U.S. physicians (83 percent) have experienced some form of a cybersecurity attack.”
Hospitals aren’t the only facilities at risk. Private practices, which typically do not have onsite IT personnel, are vulnerable to ransomware and other attacks by hackers.
All healthcare related entities should periodically complete a system-wide risk analysis, implement a risk management plan and strengthen internal policies and procedures to mitigate, if not eliminate, the possibility of such an event from occurring. As highlighted by this case, such risk analysis must take into account computers and devices used by employees both in and out of the office or facility.
Bloomberg reveals how it’s not as hard as it should be for hackers to crash – or manipulate – equipment and devices in the hospital or office setting. These included not only phones and printers but also magnetic resonance imaging scanners, ultrasounds and ventilators. So who's responsible?