Tag Archive for: Cyber attack

IT Sicherheit in Krankenhäusern

How secure is IT in our hospitals?

Digiti­sation poses IT security challenges for hospitals

Cloud computing, networked commu­ni­cation, virtual teamwork — digiti­sation offers hospitals and other healthcare facil­ities enormous potential for optimi­sation. The effects on the profitability of medical facil­ities and on patient care are sustainably positive. If it weren’t for IT security. How well protected are healthcare networks? Can sensitive data be lost during trans­mission or in the course of collab­o­ration? Or even worse: be inter­cepted? Can IT security in hospitals keep pace with the tempo of digitalisation?

Protection of sensitive patient infor­mation is required

If one thinks about the most sensitive data of a society, then patient infor­mation certainly belongs to it. The need for protection is therefore partic­u­larly high. In the meantime, the legis­lator has also recog­nised this and created a clear legal situation. At the latest, IT security in the healthcare sector will become a playing field for liability risks and claims for damages. This is why IT security is a top priority in hospitals. Several hospitals have already painfully discovered that absolute security can hardly be achieved. In particular, the attack with the ransomware “Wannacry” in 2017 had an enormous impact on hospital IT worldwide. Exami­na­tions had to be postponed, opera­tions had to be cancelled and the financial damage was immense.

The electronic patient file, telemed­icine and cross-sector infor­mation logistics make it extremely demanding to manage data securely. But IT security is no longer just a technical issue. It also concerns the awareness of the employees, the inten­sified data protection and the growing require­ments of the legis­lator. Examples are the Medical Devices Ordinance (MDR) and the audits according to § 8a of the BSI Act.

SRC expert Dr. Deniz Ulucay talks to the KU Gesund­heits­man­agement Magazine

In an interview with Birgit Sander, editor of KU Gesund­heits­man­agement Magazine, Dr. Deniz Ulucay, SRC expert for IT security in healthcare, gives detailed insights into potential threat scenarios and adequate defense strategies. The title of the article asks: “How secure is IT in our hospitals? It can be downloaded here (German).