Two-thirds of UK healthcare organisations breached last year

Nearly three years after WannaCry laid waste to IT systems across the NHS, an apparent institutional failure to address lax cyber security measures has been highlighted by a new report from Clearswift, which has claimed that 67% of UK healthcare organisations experienced some kind of cyber security incident during 2019.
Clearswift – which is owned by US automation and security specialists HelpSystems – enlisted Vanson Bourne to survey IT leaders and decision makers in healthcare organisations, and found that 48% of all incidents were virus or malware infections that occurred through the use of uncleared and unsecured third party devices, such as internet of things (IoT) enabled equipment, or USB thumb drives.
Other factors in attacks on the health sector included the sharing of information with unauthorised recipients (39%), users failing to follow protocol or data protection policies (37%), and users clicking on malicious links in emails or on social media (28%), suggesting that user education in the industry is not being taken seriously either.
“The healthcare sector holds important patient data, so it’s alarming to see such high numbers of security incidents occurring in the industry,” said Alyn Hockey, Clearswift’s vice-president of product management.
“The healthcare sector needs to securely share data across departments and organisations to facilitate excellent patient care.
“With the proliferation of third-party devices in this process, it’s more important than ever that the industry bolsters its cyber security efforts to reduce the risk of everything from unwanted data loss to malicious attacks and focusses on keeping patient data safe and secure.”
Clearswift said the number of incidents also reflected serious constraints on IT spending capabilities in the healthcare sector, with under a quarter of respondents saying that they had “adequate” levels of budget allocated to security.
There was also a disparity between where decision makers were spending what little cash they had, and where it might be more usefully deployed. For example, 46% of respondents said they were investing in database security, but just 26% said they were paying into frontline endpoint security.
“Understanding what is threatening the safety of the critical data you hold is the first step in mitigating the risk,” said Hockey. “Therefore, cyber security strategies across healthcare organisations need to rapidly evolve to account for new threats against the sector.”
“While many aspects of staying secure come from keeping employees trained to recognise threats, technology should play a key role in helping reduce the risks that come with innovation. It’s not a case of ‘if’, but ‘when’ an incident occurs so investment is required to ensure healthcare organisations are prepared for any type of threat.”
However, said Clearswift, there were also encouraging signs that the healthcare industry might be starting to turn things around – and while too many organisations were still finding themselves attacked – boards were sitting up and taking notice, at least in part thanks to WannaCry, which 33% said had had a big impact on board-level involvement and spend in security. Others cited the American Medical Collection Agency (Amca) data breach of June 2019, which saw the details of millions of Americans leaked.
Previous research conducted by Clearswift has produced similar statistics relating to cyber attack volumes – whether successful or not – in other verticals.
Last year it revealed that 70% of UK companies in the financial sector had suffered some kind of security incident, and nearly half of these were caused by employee failure to follow their organisation’s security protocols or data protection policies.
source computerweekly
Industry: Cyber Security

Latest Jobs
-
- Sailpoint IIQ Consultant
- London
- Up to £75,000
-
SailPoint IIQ consultant- London We are looking for a strong SailPoint IIQ consultant to work for this global enterprise, in this position you will be the lead consultant in regard to the IAM and PAM tools Duties include Responsible for designing, developing, testing, implementing, and integrating IAM (SailPoint) systems and solutions. Assessing requirements for Identity and Access Management solutions to meet stakeholders needs. Provide support for production IAM infrastructure systems and processes. Ensures the maintenance, patching, operating, and monitoring of IAM systems. Ensures senior management and staff are informed of any changes and updates in a timely manner. Experience with Maintaining and supporting SailPoint IIQ Assessing requirements for Privilege Access Management solutions to meet stakeholders needs We are looking for someone with the following experience SailPoint IIQ experience Expertise working with SailPoint Identity IQ platform - Access Lifecycle Management, Certifications, Role Management Expertise in onboarding applications with various connectors like Active Directory, JDBC, SCIM 2.0, Azure Active Directory Expertise in developing APIs (SCIM, REST) leveraging Java based developmentExperience of Privileged Access Management concepts and use cases Unfortunatly we are unable to provide sponsorship for this opportunity, therefore applications will need to be able to work in the UK
-
- SailPoint Consultant- Netherland-
- Netherlands
- upto €700 per day
-
We are looking for a highly skilled SailPoint IIQ Consultant to work on a major deployment project. The ideal candidate will have experience with all aspects of SailPoint IIQ, including development, configuration, and administration. They will also be able to work independently and as part of a team to deliver high-quality results. · Responsibilities · Develop and configure Sailpoint IIQ solutions · Integrate SailPoint IIQ with other systems · Support SailPoint IIQ deployments · Provide technical support to users If you are a highly skilled SailPoint IIQ consultant who is looking for their next project, we encourage you to apply. look forward to hearing from you!
-
- Lead CyberArk deployment Consultant
- London
- Upto £80,000 plus benefits
-
CyberArk Consultant is needed to be responsible for leading the deployment of CyberArk solutions for this expanding IT services business, You will work with customer both pre and post sales, getting involved in CyberArk Solution Design, helping to create CyberArk Strategic Roadmaps, on-boarding accounts, product and process integration into the CyberArk Solution and Proviso of Installation and technical Documentation. We are looking for this individual to have experience in: Installation of CyberArk PAS for V11.X and V12.X (Vault, DR Vault, Central Policy Manager and Password Vault Web Access) Upgrade of CyberArk from V9 and V10 (Vault, DR Vault, Central Policy Manager and Password Vault Web Access) Installation and Upgrade of Privilege Session Manager and Privilege Session Manager Proxy As some of your client will be government site, all individual will need to be put through SC clearance, therefore you must be eligible to receive this and happy to be put through(With a British Citizen or to have lived in the UK for the past 5 years) We are unable to provide work visa sponsorship for this opportunity
-
- Senior Business Analyst - Outside IR35 Contract, SC Clearance Required, London
- London
- £400 per day outside IR35
-
Senior Business Analyst - Outside IR35 Contract, SC Clearance Required, Based in London Project- to engage with colleagues and stakeholders to investigate and model business functions, processes, information flows and data structures, using a range of business analysis techniques. • You will translate the solution to the business problem into detailed requirements by creating user stories and well-defined acceptance criteria. • Elicit end-to-end business requirements for a live cross-government service • Working across the Government departments to bring together varied business and operational outcomes to form a holistic overall set of service requirements Current SC clearance is required. As is the ability to travel to London.