NEW YORK, Aug. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CyberMDX, a leading cyber security provider dedicated to protecting IoT and medical devices for health delivery worldwide, today announced the release of the Perspectives in Healthcare Security Report. The report, done in collaboration with Philips, examines attitudes, concerns, and impacts on medical device security as well as cybersecurity across large and midsize healthcare delivery organizations. Insights include how they correlate and diverge.

Healthcare is one of the most targeted industries. A recent report from HHS cited a total of 82 ransomware incidents so far this year worldwide with 60% of them impacting the United States health sector. Recent headlines from notorious gangs such as REvil or Conti contribute to the impact where hospitals now account for 30% of all large data breaches and at an estimated cost of $21 billion in 2020 alone.

"With new threat vectors emerging every day, healthcare organizations are facing an unprecedented level of challenges to their security," said Azi Cohen, CEO of CyberMDX. "Hospitals have a lot at stake -- from revenue loss, to reputational damage, and most importantly patient safety. Our new report provides a critical look into the current state of medical device security and will help raise awareness of key issues and disconnects healthcare organizations are facing with their cybersecurity."
The study, conducted by global market research leader Ipsos, surveyed 130 hospital executives in Information Technology (IT) and Information Security (IS) roles, as well BioMed technicians and engineers. The respondents, who averaged 15 years of experience in their fields, provided insight into the current state of medical device security within hospitals as well as highlighted the challenges their organizations face.

Key Findings:

Ransomware is Attacking the Bottom Line - 48% of hospital executives reported either a forced or proactive shutdown in the last 6 months as a result of external attacks or queries.
Midsize hospitals feeling more pain - Of respondents that experienced a shutdown due to external factors, large hospitals reported an average shutdown time of 6.2 hours at a cost of $21,500 per hour while midsize hospitals averaged nearly 10 hours at more than double the cost or $45,700 per hour.
Cybersecurity Investment Not a High Priority - Despite continuing cyber-attacks against healthcare and roughly half of respondents experiencing an externally motivated shutdown in the last 6 months, more than 60% of hospital IT teams have "other'' spending priorities and less than 11% say cybersecurity is a high priority spend.

Health IT Homepage