To quote reporter Andy Rooney, ‘why is that?’ Everyone in healthcare (with our Readers well ahead of the curve) has known for years that our organizations are special targets, indeed–by hackers (activists or not), spammers, ransomwarers, criminals, bad guys in China, North Korea, and Eastern Europe, plus an assortment of malicious insiders and the simply klutzy. Why? Healthcare organizations, payers, and service companies have a treasure trove of PHI and PII with Big Value. 

So to read in Healthcare IT News that Christopher Wray, the new director of the FBI, is saying that today’s cyberthreats are bigger than any one agency, and in fact bigger than the government itself, it gives you the feeling that the steamroller has not only run over us, but is on the second pass.

According to one reporting company, Bitglass, breach incidents were year-over-year flat (290), but the number of records affected in 2018 nearly tripled from 4.7 million to 11.5 million. Hacking finally became the top cause (45.9 percent) versus unauthorized access and disclosure (35.9 percent). Loss and theft is down to about 15 percent.

And mobile feels like that second pass. Verizon’s Mobile Security Index 2019 reports that 25 percent of healthcare organizations have had a mobile-related compromise. Nearly all hospitals are investing in mobile. In the field, doctors and other clinicians are either using issued devices or BYOD, whether authorized or not. Whether or not their organizations are using app security systems like Blue Cedar [TTA 17 Feb 18] or work with companies like DataArt on securing proprietary systems is entirely another question. Apparently it’s not a priority. According to the Verizon study, nearly half of all organizations sacrificed mobile security in the past year to “get the job done.” Healthcare Dive.

Back to Director Wray, who is urging public-private cooperation especially with the FBI, which itself has not hesitated to break encryption (e.g. Apple’s) in going after criminals’ phones.