The healthcare industry faces a range of threat groups and malicious activity. Given the critical role that healthcare plays within society and its relationship with our most sensitive information, the risk to this sector is especially consequential. It may also be one of the major reasons why we find healthcare to be one of the most retargeted industries.

In our new report, Beyond Compliance: Cyber Threats and Healthcare, we share an update on the types of threats observed affecting healthcare organizations: from criminal targeting of patient data to less frequent – but still high impact – cyber espionage intrusions, as well as disruptive and destructive threats. We urge you to review the full report for these insights, however, these are two key areas to keep in mind.

• Chinese espionage targeting of medical researchers: We’ve seen medical research – specifically cancer research – continue to be a focus of multiple Chinese espionage groups. While difficult to fully assess the extent, years of cyber-enabled theft of research trial data might be starting to have an impact, as Chinese companies are reportedly now manufacturing cancer drugs at a lower cost to Western firms.
• Healthcare databases for sale under $2,000:  The sheer number of healthcare-associated databases for sale in the underground is outrageous. Even more concerning, many of these databases can be purchased for under $2,000 dollars (based on sales we observed over a six-month period).

To learn more about the types of financially motivated cyber threat activity impacting healthcare organizations, nation state threats the healthcare sector should be aware of, and how the threat landscape is expected to evolve in the future, check out the full report here, or give a listen to this podcast conversation between Principal Analyst Luke McNamara and Grady Summers, EVP, Products:

For a closer look at the latest breach and threat landscape trends facing the healthcare sector, register for our Sept. 17, 2019, webinar.

For more details around an actor who has targeted healthcare, read about our newly revealed APT group, APT41.