New phishing techniques
“We are pleased that more and more organizations in elderly care recognize the necessity of robust digital security,” states Wim Hafkamp, director of the Z-CERT foundation. “By presenting this report to ActiZ first, we not only strengthen our collaboration but also hope to contribute to raising awareness of cyber threats in elderly care.”Ransomware and data breaches pose a serious threat in healthcare.
In 2023, Z-CERT recorded a global increase of 73 percent in incidents published on data leak websites compared to 2022. This surge is primarily due to new phishing techniques employed by criminals and attackers becoming faster at exploiting vulnerabilities.
Cloud risks
Not only large organizations fall victim to ransomware attacks; small organizations are also frequent targets. Moreover, in 2023, suppliers are much more often affected than healthcare institutions themselves. As more healthcare organizations adopt cloud services, new risks emerge. Given the growing digital dependence, it is crucial to be vigilant about information security with suppliers in healthcare.
A relatively new threat comes from the realm of home automation. In the past year, Z-CERT has also observed several incidents involving home automation. For instance, a ransomware attack on a supplier of emergency buttons disrupted communication between the buttons and the control room, rendering the emergency buttons non-functional. The use of healthcare automation may thus entail risks as it can directly impact healthcare delivery, including fall detectors for the elderly, smoke detectors, and cameras.