A successful cyber attack can cause devastating damage to commercial businesses, impacting reputations and striking at a company’s bottom line. But what if the target is a hospital, aged care facility or medical centre? The consequences can be catastrophic.
The health and aged care sectors are arguably the primary target for cyber criminals in Australia.
The health and aged care sectors have reported the most notifiable data breaches in Australia for each reporting period since 1 October 2018. In its most recent half-yearly report, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner reported that the health and aged care sectors accounted for 18% of all data breaches (followed by finance at 12%).[1]
Data breaches are no longer the only cyber security concern for health and aged care sector organisations.
The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) was notified of 166 cyber security incidents (including brute-force attacks, hacking, ransomware and compromised or stolen credentials) relating to the health and aged care sectors between 1 January and 31 December 2020. [2] This marks an 84% increase in incidents compared to those recorded in 2019. [3] In its 2021 report, the…
