CYBERSECURITY AND RISK IN HIT/HIS AND HEALTHCARE 2
1. Describe three cyber security issues applied to healthcare. Give me details in your
examples.
One of the cyber security issues is medical devices malware; this refers to when hackers
install software on medical apparatus which is designed to disrupt, gain unauthorized access and
damage the equipment (Newman, 2017). In the recent past St. Jude has spent months trying to
correct medical devices like defibrillators, pacemakers and other several tools to reduce the
vulnerability of the devices to malware. Secondly, in 2015, more than half of the hospitals
experienced ransomware attack ("Cybersecurity in Healthcare Industries," 2016). Ransomware is
a subset of malware, however in the case of ransomware data stored in the device is locked, and
the hackers usually demand monetary compensations before they are unlocked. An example of a
recent ransomware was in January 2016, where hackers attacked Titus Regional Medical Centre
and the facility could not access patient’s files leading to defects in healthcare delivery ("12
healthcare ransomware attacks of 2016). The third issue is on HIPPA and privacy of patient’s
records. In 2014, New York Presbyterian hospital paid 4.8 million for violating the HIPPA
("Cybersecurity in Healthcare Industries," 2016). Hospitals should ensure safe storage and
security of medical records as per the provisions of the Privacy Principles.
2. Describe WiFi vulnerability.
WiFi vulnerabitiy occurs when a Wi-Fi network is susceptible to the exploit by attackers
who are in a position of injecting malware into the system. The WPA2 protocol is a vital part of
an institution WIFI. The healthcare workers are always confident of the WIFI security, but they
do not know that the WPA2 protocol can be hacked leading to transmission of data and also
infect the protected network (HITInfrastructure, 2017). When such an event happens, the
confidentiality of medical records is breached leading to unintended violations of the HIPPA
