Sector focus: Cybersecurity and healthcare
Over the past decade, the cyberthreat to the healthcare industry has increased dramatically, along with the sophistication of cyberattacks. Industry and government both recognise this new era. For each improvement delivered by automation, interoperability, and data analytics, the vulnerability to malicious cyberattacks increases as well.
Cyberattacks are of particular concern for the health sector because attacks can directly threaten not just the security of systems and information but also the health and safety of patients.
Thousands of healthcare organisations have been targeted by cybersecurity threats in the last few years, with hospitals accounting for 30% of all large-scale data security incidents.
A healthcare data breach costs a whopping $7.13 million on average when compared to other sectors. The healthcare industry is closely followed by the energy and financial sectors, at $6.39m and $5.85m cost per data breach. However this is a table no one wants to be leading.
The cost of healthcare breaches has risen from $6.45 million, a 10% increase between 2019 and 2020.
When compared to other industries, the latest data shows healthcare experienced the second-highest increase in cost-per-breach in 2020, just behind energy.
