It turns out that the majority of hospitals are not prepared against the threat of hackers.
According to a Spyglass Consulting Group survey released earlier this week, a whopping 82% of hospitals question their ability to protect their mobile devices, patient data, and infrastructure from cyber attacks. They are cautious over the threats posed by malware, blastware, and ransomware.
Considering the fact that the threat of identity theft poses a huge problem within the U.S., it is crucial that hospitals take the necessary precautions to safeguard their patients. The numbers are shocking. Approximately 15 million Americans have their identities stolen every year, with their financial losses totaling upward of $50 billion.
The survey took results from more than 100 IT and healthcare professionals working in hospitals and found that 38% of hospitals implemented mobile devices for doctors and nurses to discuss secure, clinical information.
On average, each hospital deployed 624 devices.
Despite these technological advancements, three-fourths of hospitals believe mobile communications is an emerging investment priority. So this begs the question as to why these hospitals would put all these mobile devices into place if they don’t fully believe in their security measures?
The survey found that hospitals’ patient monitors, phones, and electronic medical records happen to be secure and have stringent policies concerning their use. However, the survey researchers focused their efforts on mobile computing and wireless technologies.
Gregg Malkary, founder and managing director for Spyglass Managing Group, explained to Tech Republic why this is still troubling to hospitals. He says, “Even with that investment, hospitals are still paranoid. Hackers are getting more clever, and the amount of dollars hackers can get for each medical record is only increasing in price.”
Malkary doesn’t know where the hospitals can go from here besides upping their security management.
“This is a freight train they can’t turn around,” said Malkary. “We just have to provide the best level of security we can.”
