Wed, Apr 17, 2024

The State of Cyber Defense: Diagnosing Cyber Threats in Healthcare

The State of Cyber Defense healthcare edition provides a holistic overview of the healthcare sector including insights from threat intelligence, data breach statistics, offensive security considerations and insight into the maturity of healthcare organizations’ cybersecurity programs.

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The State of Cyber Defense: Diagnosing Cyber Threats in Healthcare maps out the cybersecurity threat landscape the healthcare sector currently operates in, looking at three key areas:

Detection and Response	Cyber Threat Intelligence	Offensive Security (OffSec)
The cyber maturity of healthcare organization’s detection and response capabilities using data analyzed from 1,000 global cybersecurity programs.	Using Kroll’s frontline threat intelligence from over 3,000 incidents a year, this report details the threats the healthcare sector is facing, and how threat actors are infiltrating their networks.	Kroll experts detail the key considerations for the healthcare sector based on pen testing their networks, including how hackers are able to find vulnerabilities and what the industry can do to protect itself.

Key Highlights Include
Healthcare is the most likely industry to self-report as having very mature security. Healthcare organizations are 65% less likely to outsource their cybersecurity services than other sectors due to the dynamic nature of these work environments. Healthcare cybersecurity professionals believe credential access is their number one concern – more than ransomware, BEC and phishing. Kroll Threat Intelligence finds that the industry is consistently targeted by ransomware groups using a combination of valid credentials theft and exploiting vulnerabilities. The healthcare industry is one of the most breached industries, ranking first in 2022 and second in 2023 in Kroll data.

Key Highlights Include

Healthcare is the most likely industry to self-report as having very mature security.
Healthcare organizations are 65% less likely to outsource their cybersecurity services than other sectors due to the dynamic nature of these work environments.
Healthcare cybersecurity professionals believe credential access is their number one concern – more than ransomware, BEC and phishing.
Kroll Threat Intelligence finds that the industry is consistently targeted by ransomware groups using a combination of valid credentials theft and exploiting vulnerabilities.
The healthcare industry is one of the most breached industries, ranking first in 2022 and second in 2023 in Kroll data.

The Healthcare Sector is Underprepared

Perceived Cyber Maturity Overall, vs. Healthcare

The Healthcare Sector is Underprepared

Kroll discovered in the State of Cyber Defense: Detection and Response Maturity Model that there is a worrying disconnect in how mature organizations believe they are, and how mature they are in reality.

This self-diagnosis gap is heightened in healthcare organizations and their confidence in their security and real-world security capabilities which can lead to inadequate security solution provisioning, inaccurate risk assessments, and the impact of an attack can have far-reaching consequences.

Nearly 50% of healthcare respondents rated their overall cybersecurity as ‘very mature’, more than any other sector and 16 percentage points higher than the survey average.

Those in the healthcare sector are also among the most likely to believe that absolutely zero improvements are needed to their security.

Healthcare Organizations Need More Mature Capabilities

Threat and Detection Response Capabilities Used by Healthcare

Healthcare Organizations Need More Mature Capabilities

When looking at the threat detection and response capabilities, the healthcare industry is more likely to employ the more basic, or immature, processes. Indeed, many only employ the most basic security capabilities such as cybersecurity monitoring, and none of the healthcare industries surveyed had all threat and detection capabilities in place.

The Biggest Concerns for the Healthcare Industry

Threat Types of Most Concern

The Biggest Concerns for the Healthcare Industry

Healthcare organizations appear to be far more concerned by credential access threats than any other industry. Credential access was cited as most concerning threat type by only 16% of all 1,000 respondents, making it the least concerning threat across all sectors. However, it was chosen by more than a quarter (26%) of healthcare professionals – more than ransomware, zero-day attacks and supply chain compromise.

The Threats the Healthcare Industry Faces

Kroll’s Cyber Threat Intelligence team has seen the healthcare industry consistently targeted by ransomware groups using a combination of valid credentials theft and exploiting vulnerabilities.

Most Common Threat Incident Type Targeting the Healthcare Industry in 2023

Most Common Initial Access Method for the Healthcare Industry in 2023

The Healthcare Sector is a Consistently Popular Target

Most Breached Industries in 2022 and 2023

The Healthcare Sector is a Consistently Popular Target

Kroll’s last two Data Breach Outlook reports clearly demonstrate the vulnerability of the sector. Not only does it hold sensitive data which may be at risk of poor handling but threat actors with malicious intent may also be tempted to target and expose such data to cause disruption.

Is Outsourcing the Answer?

The State of Cyber Defense: Diagnosing Cyber Threats in Healthcare

Cybersecurity Services Securing Model

Is Outsourcing the Answer?

Healthcare organizations are 65% less likely to fully outsource their cybersecurity services than the average organization (17% vs 28%). They are also more likely to do everything in-house.

However, this trend may be starting to shift. 62% of all the healthcare respondents that currently manage all their cybersecurity services in house confirmed that they have plans to outsource in the next 12 months.

Much, Much More In the Report

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Much, Much More In the Report

The full report also covers:

How to overcome challenges stemming from discrepancies between perceived and actual maturity
Further insights into the cyber maturity of healthcare organizations
What the healthcare sector needs to prioritize in its cybersecurity strategy
The levels of engagement within the industry post data breach
Key considerations learnt from Kroll’s cyber penetration experts
How regulation and legacy systems are affecting the healthcare industry’s ability to protect itself
How organizations can begin to progress their detection and response maturity

For access to the full results, complete the form to download the report.

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