Role of Information in Healthcare Industry
In this era of technology and digitalization, information is considered to be one of the keys to business success and information can be used and stored in different ways within an organization. But with the up-gradation of technology, the issues related to maintaining the data become one the challenging tasks in different industries. The role of information can be seen everywhere across the globe and this research healthcare industry has been chosen to discuss how different factors are hampering the inputs and outputs of data. In the sector of healthcare, the role of information is to understand the medical conditions of the patients and by analysing those data, providing an effective solution is the key consideration. This research will state different events that have occurred due to data or information security breaches. In Australia, there are different healthcare organizations that have faced the issues of data breaches and those events will be showcased how data breaches happened. Along with that, this research will also discuss the effective measurement that the healthcare can take into account to get rid of these kinds of events in future. Not only about the healthcare sector, with the report on an effective solution, this research will also state the ways that in common can provide a solution in other industries as well. Because data breaches can happen in different industries where there is a use of information.
The threats of cyber attackers can be seen in different countries and there are different events across the globe that have happened where the ethical hackers are being paid to hack the system of services of different industries. In the case of the healthcare sector, a similar incident in the year 2021, on April 25, when an attack called ransomware has been happened at Uniting Care Queensland. With the support of this attachment, the internal IT system of the care unit has been badly affected (Healthcareitnews, 2022). Due to this, the organization was bound to work on paper-based operations after the incident happened. The concept of a data breach happened when the personal data of an organization is being tampered with the help of unauthorized access. The role of the hackers or cyber attackers is not only to access or collect the data rather; often they disclose the data to other agencies or tamper with the data in such a way that the organization again cannot get back to work with the same process and same data. The state hackers of Russia have done that ransomware attack and that is still letting the organization not work on cancer care due to the breach of data. Now this research will discuss how ransom ware has impacted the Uniting care and before that the reader must understand the concept of the security threat. Ransomware is nothing but a type of malicious software or malware that threatens to block access or publish data in a computer system by encrypting that (Coventry & Branley, 2018). When the victim does not pay ransom to the attackers, then they use to inject the malicious software and that creates the issue of data breaches. Different types of ransomware attacks are there among which some kinds or types have been taken into account for the Queensland Uniting care in Australia. The organization might have not paid the ransom to the attacker and due to that the Russian hackers have injected the malicious activities and impacted the IT system of the organization. That has hampered the care and treatment operations which used to be done based on stored data or information.
Cybersecurity Threats in Healthcare Industry
In order to conduct a ransomware attack on the chosen event, the hackers have used different methods taken into consideration among which one was the Crypto ransomware which helped the hackers to encrypt valuable files of healthcare from the IT system and that made it unusable for the organization. It was a windows based system where the IT workers were operating with the chosen healthcare organization (Keshta & Odeh, 2021). In order to hack that system, the hackers have used ransomware called NotPetya where this system not only encrypts the information from the system but also infects the master mood and that is how the entire IT system has been damaged by the attack. This application is NotPetya is so powerful and effective that, after the successful completion of the attack or accessing the data it cannot be made changes to the master book record and also left the victim system unrecoverable. Often it can be seen that after access to the information, the cybercriminals keep the target system in such a way, that users cannot even understand the access (Al-Muhtadi et al. 2019). But in this case, the hackers have used such a system which has not left the healthcare organization to have any chances of recovery and that is why after the incident the organization was forced to use pen and paper for each and every task to get away from this types of attack in future.
The reasons that are responsible for the attack that has happened with Uniting Care Queensland are the lack of cyber security training. The members who were there in the IT team were not capable enough to deal with the cyber-attacks and even they were not aware of this ransomware as well. Due to that, when that happened the IT team was unaware of the fact that it would hamper the entire care operations because without proper management of information or data a healthcare organization cannot run in an effective way (Offner et al. 2020). In addition to that, the poor usability of workers in terms of collecting, gathering and managing data was another reason behind the attack that had happened on the organization. From different data, it has been found that in the last couple of year, out of 50 breaches 25 breaches of data which has been reported was based on malicious injection of virus and the rest were caused by human error. Therefore it can be seen that 50% of cases are happening due to the negligence of workers working in the department of IT where the information of patients in healthcare and the medical information for different cases are also stored. Poor staff management is one of the major reasons behind those attacks which are happening in different healthcare organizations (Gagneja, 2017). Access management and weak password are other ways that are helping the cyber attackers to inject malicious software and ask for ransom from the victim and that is what happened within Uniting Care in Australia. One of the effective measurements that an organization often neglects is the accessibility of the information system where information in the sector of healthcare is stored. If the uniting care would have protected the system with proper security measures in terms of passwords and if the organization would have set privacy and security policies for the workers then the effective working process among them could have prevented the attack on the organization (Zaki et al. 2021).
Types of Ransomware Attacks on Healthcare Industry
It can also be seen that knowing the usability of any function or responding to any unwanted mail is also another reason behind the ransomware attack. This phishing or spam email contains different malicious viruses and when a user responded to those, then automatically the malware functions enter the system and damage the system entirely. This can be seen in the different healthcare sectors where lack of proper training and evaluation programs, the access holder used to respond to those security threats and damage the entire system of the organization (Ahmed et al. 2019). Uniting Care Queensland was working and investing in providing better services and facilities to consumers, but they were unaware of the fact that investing in the information system is also a key consideration for the organization. Even if holding and managing a vast amount of data, the organization was totally unaware of the fact that, if any cyber attackers attack the system then that can broadly impact the workplace operations and that is what happened with the organization. Thus lack of funding in the IT security solution was another fault or reason behind facing the attack in the healthcare operations. Giving access to a limited number of people and lack of proper management in accessing the system was another major reason behind the attack faced by the Uniting care (Abu Ali et al. 2021).
Now if Uniting Care Queensland does not want to face such incidents, they can also have different solutions as well because with the upgrade of technology and to fight those cybercriminals, different effective solutions are being developed by different organizations. The first and foremost consideration is to back up data on a regular basis to other devices so that even if such an incident happened, the organization can have a backup of information to continue its operations without any interruptions (Thamer and Alubady, 2021). The system where the process of backing up will happen must have a three-layer encryption process so that even if any unauthorized user breaks the first layer, the second and third layers will keep the system protected from cyber attackers. The second most important consideration is that before adopting security concerns or processes, the organization must be aware and train the workers who will have the authorization to access or maintain the information. In this case, the Russian hackers have got the chance to inject the malware functions to damage the malicious software in the IT system because there was a lack of awareness among the workers (Elsayed and Azer, 2018). Often it can be seen in a different organization that due to lack of operational knowledge and awareness, the maintainer often does such activities which help the hacker to get access to a system. Therefore the IT team of the Uniting care needs to only have those people in the team who will have the potential and knowledge about the operations and also must have the knowledge of different kinds of attacks. This is to ensure that even if any attacks happen, the team must have the solution to handle the attack to prevent the hamper of information or data. Keeping the network safe from any unauthorized access is another key way to get rid of any such events that have happened with the uniting care (Slayton, 2018). The stronger the network system will be, the fewer attacks in terms of ransomware or security threats will be successful. Different layers of the encryption process make the hackers confused about injecting any ransom or malware files to get access to a system or to damage any system (Bhagwat & Patil, 2020). Thus to deal with the information in a better way for the operational process, the organization must adopt these methods to deal with a ransomware attacks in future. In short, it can be said that the organization must secure their IT system in such a way that even if hackers ask for ransomware, the organization must have the confidence to deal with the attacks. In addition to that, performing risk assessment in the IT system can be another way for Uniting care to rid of security-related risks in terms of managing data or information (Abrar et al. 2018). Risks can come uncertainly and if an organization does not prepare for protecting the system from risks, then it is quite obvious to get attacked by cyber attackers.
Factors Responsible for Ransomware Attack on Uniting Care Queensland
Establishing proper plans and protocols can help uniting care for future prevention of ransomware because this kinds of attack become quite common and frequent that it cannot be avoided by the organization. Thus in order to deal with the situation, the organization have to keep wide plans and protocols in place. This should not only protect the system from cyber attackers but also positively respond to those attacks in terms of stopping them. The IT security team within the organization is having a strong role in this case and the organization should ensure that the workers are quite aware of the protocols and plans so that the way of prevention can be easier. The roles of each individual in the IT team should be defined in the way of attack and the way of prevention (Byrne, 2021). The communication and action protocols need to be clear to each individual to make sure that if any unwanted activities in terms of attack occur, then with those protocols they can respond immediately. Keeping the IT system up-to-date is another way to keep the attackers away. This is because, with the up-gradation of technology, the systems are also getting up-graded in terms of performance of operations and prevention from any attack. Thus keeping the system ready for preventing the ransomware attack and having a good working process, the uniting care needs to have the system up-to-date. Not only the software side but also the hardware and different applications also need to be updated to make sure that the system can be capable enough to identify any threats and act accordingly. Backing up the system and turning on the auto-update option can also keep the IT system within the organization secure from any kinds of threats. Imposing restrictions on Access is another key way to prevent the attack (Kruse et al. 2017). It has been discussed above that without having the limitation in access and managing the authorized access, a system cannot be protected from cyber attackers. Restrict access to the IT system and different other vital parts of the system can decrease the chances of ransomware infiltration within the Uniting Care Queensland. Focusing on different emails and understanding the malicious emails to get access to the IT system can also help the organization prevent any kind of ransomware attack in future.
Conclusion:
This research was entirely about the issues of cyber security that different business organizations in different sectors are facing. The increasing way of technology and innovation is also helping the cyber attackers to have a chance to get access to the information system of users. Similarly, in this case, an incident has been identified where the Uniting Care Queensland in Australia has faced the issue of data breaches due to the attack of ransomware. This is one of the most common threats faced by people in different industries. The Russian hackers have injected malicious software which has impacted the entire working process of the organization. The reasons behind the attack have been effectively discussed in the following research where the lack of control and negligence of staff is one of the major reasons. The lack of training and weak network system is another reason. But to deal with these different methods also have been discussed such as proper training and awareness programs, strong network and system security can ensure protecting the IT system from the cyber security threats. In addition to that, to have effective deal with the cyber hackers and criminals, the organization can manage the issues of data breaches from IT system in the organization.
References:
Abrar, H., Hussain, S. J., Chaudhry, J., Saleem, K., Orgun, M. A., Al-Muhtadi, J., & Valli, C. (2018). Risk analysis of cloud sourcing in healthcare and public health industry. IEEE Access, 6, 19140-19150.
https://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
Al-Muhtadi, J., Shahzad, B., Saleem, K., Jameel, W., & Orgun, M. A. (2019). Cybersecurity and privacy issues for socially integrated mobile healthcare applications operating in a multi-cloud environment. Health informatics journal, 25(2), 315-329. DOI: 10.1177/1460458217706184
Bhagwat, L. B., & Patil, B. M. (2020). Detection of ransomware attack: A review. In Proceeding of International Conference on Computational Science and Applications (pp. 15-22). Springer, Singapore. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-15-0790-8_2
Byrne, M. D. (2021). Cybersecurity and the New Age of Ransomware Attacks. Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing, 36(5), 594-596. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jopan.2021.07.004
Coventry, L., & Branley, D. (2018). Cybersecurity in healthcare: A narrative review of trends, threats and ways forward. Maturitas, 113, 48-52.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2018.04.008
Gagneja, K. K. (2017, February). Knowing the ransomware and building defense against it-specific to healthcare institutes. In 2017 Third International Conference on Mobile and Secure Services (MobiSecServ) (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
DOI: 10.1109/MOBISECSERV.2017.7886569
Healthcareitnews. (2022). Cybersecurity roundup: U.S. agencies warn of Russian hacks, Australian hospitals struggle to get back online. Healthcare IT News. Retrieved 29 April 2022, from
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cybersecurity-roundup-us-agencies-warn-russian-hacks-australian-hospitals-struggle-get-back.
- Abu Ali and S. Alyounis, “CyberSecurity in Healthcare Industry,” (2021) International Conference on Information Technology (ICIT), 2021, pp. 695-701,
- doi: 10.1109/ICIT52682.2021.9491669.
Keshta, I., & Odeh, A. (2021). Security and privacy of electronic health records: Concerns and challenges. Egyptian Informatics Journal, 22(2), 177-183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eij.2020.07.003
Kruse, C. S., Frederick, B., Jacobson, T., & Monticone, D. K. (2017). Cybersecurity in healthcare: A systematic review of modern threats and trends. Technology and Health Care, 25(1), 1-10. DOI: 10.3233/THC-161263
- S. Elsayed and M. A. Azer, “Health Records Privacy Issues in Cloud Computing,” (2018). 1st International Conference on Computer Applications and Information Security (ICCAIS), 2018, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/CAIS.2018.8441974.
- Zaki, V. Sivakumar, S. Shrivastava and K. Gaurav, “Cybersecurity Framework For Healthcare Industry Using NGFW”, (2021). Third International Conference on Intelligent Communication Technologies and Virtual Mobile Networks (ICICV), 2021, pp. 196-200,
- doi: 10.1109/ICICV50876.2021.9388455.
- Thamer and R. Alubady, “A Survey of Ransomware Attacks for Healthcare Systems: Risks, Challenges, Solutions and Opportunity of Research,” (2021). 1st Babylon International Conference on Information Technology and Science (BICITS), 2021, pp. 210-216, doi: 10.1109/BICITS51482.2021.9509877
Offner, K. L., Sitnikova, E., Joiner, K., & MacIntyre, C. R. (2020). Towards understanding cybersecurity capability in Australian healthcare organisations: a systematic review of recent trends, threats and mitigation. Intelligence and National Security, 35(4), 556-585.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2020.1752459
Slayton, T. B. (2018). Ransomware: The virus attacking the healthcare industry. Journal of Legal Medicine, 38(2), 287-311.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01947648.2018.1473186
- Ahmed, S. Naqvi and M. Josephs, “Cybersecurity Metrics for Enhanced Protection of Healthcare IT Systems,” (2019) 13th International Symposium on Medical Information and Communication Technology (ISMICT), 2019, pp. 1-9, doi: 1
- 0.1109/ISMICT.2019.8744003.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
