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Cloud services : A threat vector for healthcare industry
New research from Infoblox highlights cybersecurity challenges and opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic
Infoblox , a leader in secure cloudmanaged network services , has unveiled new research into the cybersecurity and network infrastructure challenges faced by decision-makers in the healthcare industry . One year into the COVID-19 pandemic , the report reveals major challenges this critical industry faced as healthcare IT workers scrambled to secure protected health information ( PHI ) and the infrastructure against the pandemic ’ s complex cybersecurity and networking challenges .
Based on responses from nearly 800 healthcare IT decision-makers in North America , Latin America , Europe and the Asia- Pacific region , key survey findings include :
• Data breaches and network outages are a real and growing cost for the industry : Nearly half ( 43 %) of respondents estimated the costs of data breaches would exceed US $ 2 million and more than one-third ( 34 %) said the same for network outages .
• The healthcare industry is a target : Over half of respondents ( 52 %) suffered a data breach in the past year .
• Attackers are focusing on the cloud : Cloud vulnerabilities and misconfigurations , IoT attacks and data manipulation are the most expected cyberthreats the industry faces in the next 12 months , each cited by nearly 20 % of respondents .
• Cloud networks remain vulnerable : 53 % of respondents experienced data breaches in cloud networks , the biggest attack vector from the past year .
• Knowledge is half the battle : Respondents cited network monitoring ( 71 % of respondents ) and threat intelligence ( 61 %) as the most effective mitigation tactics against the threats they faced in 2020 .
The survey also found that financial losses from network outages tend to be only marginally lower than those from data breaches , demonstrating that losses from normal business interruptions can be as damaging as those from hacks . Respondents universally recognized that the costs of prevention were lower than the significant direct and indirect costs of these events ( for example , fines , equipment replacement , victim remediation , loss of reputation and customer losses ).
“ The Coronavirus pandemic continues to highlight the unique cybersecurity needs of the healthcare industry , even as it has increased the number of threats these organizations face ,” said Anthony James , VP of Product Marketing , Infoblox . “ PHI is both highly prized by cybercriminals and strictly regulated by governments , raising the stakes for the industry as it adapts cloud-first technologies in response to the shutdown ’ s remote work mandate .”
“ Fortunately , the industry recognizes the need and value of prevention when it comes to protecting this critical data and understands that DNS is one of the most cost-effective ways to secure their networks from a variety of malicious threats before they infiltrate the network ,” added James .
“ BloxOne Threat Defense can securely extend a customer ’ s network into the cloud and leverages insights from DNS traffic , as well as other threat intelligence feeds and mitigation tools to provide defense-in-depth for onpremises and remote network architectures .
“ And as healthcare organizations continue to transform their workplaces into the cloud , BloxOne DDI can provide foundational cloudmanaged network services to enable them to simplify network management and automate critical tasks as best suits the team .” p
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