Providers are facing attempts to compromise data on an increasingly frequent basis and often fall prey to these attempts; 81 percent of healthcare organizations have been compromised by cyber attacks in the past two years, according to the 2015 KPMG Healthcare Cybersecurity Survey.
The survey includes responses from 223 healthcare executives.
Here five other findings from the survey.
1. The survey identified five top data security vulnerabilities including:
• External attackers: 65 percent
• Sharing data with third-parties: 48 percent
• Employee breaches/theft: 35 percent
• Wireless computing: 35 percent
• Inadequate firewalls: 27 percent
2. The healthcare executives included in the survey also included top information security concerns including:
• Malware infecting systems: 67 percent
• HIPAA violations/compromise of patient privacy: 57 percent
• Internal vulnerabilities such as employee theft or negligence: 40 percent
• Medical device security: 32 percent
• Aging IT hardware: 31 percent
3. Providers and payers reported different top concerns.
Top provider concerns include:
• Regulatory enforcement: 50 percent
• Litigation: 45 percent
• Financial loss: 44 percent
• Reputation: 39 percent
• Job security: 6 percent
Top payer concerns include:
• Financial loss: 57 percent
• Reputation: 46 percent
• Litigation: 38 percent
• Regulatory enforcement: 35 percent
• Job security: 3 percent
4. The survey respondents reported the number of cyberattack attempts within the past 12 months. Nearly half of respondents (44 percent) reported between one and 50 attempts, 38 percent reported between 50 and 350 attempts and 13 percent reported more than 350 attempts.
5. Not all providers and payers feel adequately prepared to defect against a cyberattck. Fifty-three percent of providers feel prepared while 66 percent of payers feel prepared.