The healthcare sector, like the pharmaceutical sector, is considered critical infrastructure from an information security and data protection perspective. Every hospital collects and manages large amounts of patients' personal and clinical data each day, requiring the utmost care to prevent cyber attacks and data theft by criminal organisations. Unfortunately, cyber attacks are also increasingly common in this sector, mainly aiming to extort healthcare providers after stealing or tampering with their digital data.
To help hospitals protect their digital systems, Soter IT Security offers dedicated services to assess security levels and maximise the effectiveness of IT protection systems. Our specialists apply their cybersecurity expertise to ensure the security of networks, software and medical devices used by hospitals. Contact us for more information about our services.
Cyber risks for healthcare companies
The main risks to the medical sector identified by ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, include:
- Clinical information systems, meaning all types of software used by healthcare organisations. Cyber threats arise from communication between software over networks and IoT applications: without appropriate protection, data transmitted from one application to another can be exposed to cyber attacks such as data theft and tampering.
- Remote care systems, meaning the telemedicine and monitoring software tools that enable remote healthcare, such as SOS devices used by older people. Here too, the proper functioning of these devices is essential to protect patients against tampering with monitoring functions.
- Medical devices, meaning all hardware used for diagnosis and medical treatment. The associated risks relate to functionality, so all hardware used by hospitals must meet the quality standards imposed by the TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) to ensure the highest level of device safety.
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Contact usCybersecurity for the hospital sector
Soter delivers dedicated IT services for the healthcare sector to test, assess and ensure the highest level of cybersecurity. Our services cover dedicated processes and activities, from regulatory compliance to employee and management training, to protect healthcare infrastructure against digital threats.
Cybersecurity services
Security Governance
We conduct a comprehensive audit to assess the digital security of IT systems and identify risks and threats. The result is a detailed report analysing the weaknesses found and explaining how to improve security.
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Red Teaming Exercise
Our Red Teaming Exercise simulates a real cyber attack to test not only business IT infrastructure, but also staff readiness to recognise the signs of an attack.
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Training Courses
We provide training for hospital staff to develop their cybersecurity awareness. Dedicated sessions cover how to recognise threats and which security measures to adopt to avoid them.
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Forensic Analysis
We deliver digital investigation services to address the consequences of a cyber attack. Through disk forensics and mobile forensics, we recover stolen data and reconstruct the activity history of compromised devices.
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According to European directives and ENISA, each hospital is fully responsible for the security of its digital tools and systems. It must therefore actively protect not only its patients' sensitive data, but also the organisational, technical and procedural security measures associated with its IT systems. The main regulations for operating appropriately in the healthcare sector are:
- GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation): EU Regulation 679/2016 aims to safeguard patient privacy. It also requires hospitals to conduct periodic, in-depth risk assessments and implement defensive and preventive strategies based on a DPIA (Data Protection Impact Assessment).
- NIS 2 (Network and Information System Security 2): the directive updating and extending the previous NIS Directive to maximise cybersecurity measures. In particular, it establishes new rules for business data security, defines new criteria for identifying those responsible for information security according to company size, and introduces greater obligations and responsibilities for cybersecurity personnel.
- MDR (Medical Device Regulation): Regulation (EU) 2017/745 establishes the quality standards needed to ensure the safety of medical devices. It also includes rules for manufacturing and distributing medical equipment and accessories in the European market to ensure the highest level of safety for each device.
To address these updating requirements, Soter Security's professionals offer healthcare companies digitalisation and European regulatory compliance services to maximise security levels and effectively prevent cyber attacks. Contact us for more information about our services.
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