While a recent report found that healthcare ransomware attacks declined in the first half of 2018, a spate of recent high-profile healthcare cybersecurity incidents the past few months serves as a stark reminder that the healthcare industry continues to be a ripe target for cyber attacks.
A cyber attack on Singapore’s public health system, SingHealth, breached the records of 1.5 million people and targeted the country’s prime minister, Singapore Ministry of Health officials announced on July 20. The breach impacted about a quarter of Singapore’s population of 5.6 million people. In a statement, officials said that it was a “deliberate, targeted and well-planned cyber attack,” and “not the work of casual hackers or criminal gangs.”
The attackers specifically and repeatedly targeted Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s personal particulars and information on his outpatient dispensed medicines, Ministry of Health officials said. Around 1.5 million people who visited outpatient clinics from May 1, 2015, to July 4, 2018 this year had their personal data accessed and copied, including names, identification card numbers, addresses, race, gender and dates of birth,…
