HYDERABAD: A threat analysis report on the simulated healthcare sector based on a survey revealed that from January to November 2022, as many as 18,51,607 attack events from a total number of 41,181 unique IP addresses from across the globe have been captured.
Among the top 10 attacker countries, India stands in the third position only after Vietnam and Pakistan, the survey by Cyber Peace Foundation and Autobot Infosec found.
According to the report, cybercriminals are taking advantage of the fact that healthcare organisations are under immense strain and are more likely to pay a ransom to get their systems up and running again. “Organisations should ensure their systems are secured by reducing the unnecessary data, improving patch level of softwares, backup and restoration procedures, and auditing systems to build awareness of any threats.”
The research found 27 instances of unique usernames and 2,494 instances of unique passwords used for brute forcing (a hacking method that uses trial and error to crack passwords, login credentials, and encryption keys). This is a simple yet reliable tactic for gaining unauthorised access to individual accounts and organisations’ systems and networks. The research also revealed that the attackers tried to exploit protocols to access sensitive patients data like medical images, diagnostic databases, etc
The report advised healthcare organisations to not expose their critical services unnecessarily to the internet, isolate critical networks from public networks and periodically perform technical audits of healthcare infrastructure devices, networks, and any other endpoints directly or indirectly connected to it, to identify security concerns.
Organisations were also advised to run cyber awareness drives at regular intervals and also develop an R&D lab to enhance cybersecurity skills among the employees. Stay away from phishing links, by clicking on which malware is injected into the networks or sensitive information is stolen by criminals, the report advised.
