Data-driven healthcare and cybersecurity conference – 25 April 2024, Budapest
Cybersecurity in healthcare – Cybercriminals not only steal data but can also paralyze the entire healthcare system for ransom
The Hungarian Healthcare Management Association is organizing the 22nd Data-Driven Healthcare and Cybersecurity Conference. This year’s summit will focus on the challenges of artificial intelligence (AI), IT, and cybersecurity in healthcare.
It is imperative that the healthcare sector continuously improve its cybersecurity measures and systems to protect both patients and healthcare data from cyber-attacks, as the exposure of healthcare data is enormous. Hundreds of healthcare cyber-attacks are recorded every week worldwide, affecting at least 200,000 patients’ data per incident. The number of cyber-attack victims is over several hundred million annually, and the damage caused by cyber criminals can reach €50 billion. Cyber criminals’ data theft and phishing can put personal and sensitive personal information into unauthorized hands, with severe consequences for patients and healthcare institutions.
Health information is sensitive personal data; while a bank record is worth a few dollars on the black market, patient data generated in the healthcare sector can be worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. These attacks threaten not only data security but also the entire healthcare infrastructure, which can cause severe damage to society as a whole. The regulatory and legal environment is trying to prevent these increasingly sophisticated attacks and adapt up to date. From 2024, institutions and businesses involved in healthcare should apply the so-called NIS2 EU Cybersecurity Directive.
Healthcare cybersecurity expert Dr. Tamás Palicz said, “In healthcare, cybersecurity is fundamentally not a technological issue, but a patient security issue, which can affect human lives and even access to the healthcare systems of countries. The healthcare sector generates huge amounts of data, with institutions carrying out a series of huge data collection tests, even for a single diagnosis. These are particularly valuable to cybercriminals because of their high value and importance. However, cyber-attacks are not just about data theft; there are also so-called ransomware attacks, where attackers encrypt data or even the whole system and demand a ransom to decrypt or restore the system. However, we can also talk about attacks against medical devices, where patients are the targets through medical devices connected to the Internet. Another major threat is the so-called DDoS or attacks that paralyze services. In such cases, criminals aim to overload systems or websites, leading to downtime and access problems. Therefore, defending against cyber attacks is a challenge in the healthcare sector, where data saves lives.”
The Data-Driven Healthcare and Cybersecurity conference will focus on the sector’s cybersecurity challenges and the current issues of artificial intelligence and data-driven healthcare. Our next press release will cover this theme.
Registration for the conference is now open!