The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) has unveiled plans to undertake a study of the targeted cyber threats impacting the healthcare industry.
HITRUST Cyber Discovery will analyze the methods, severity and pervasiveness of cyber threats targeting a variety of healthcare organizations.
“The study will enable a better understanding of the actual magnitude, complexity, relations of cyber-attacks, commonalities of target organizations and data, and degree of cyber threats persisting within organizations. The goal is to accurately identify attack patterns and persistence, as well as the magnitude and sophistication of specific threats across enterprises,” said HITRUST.
The healthcare industry is becoming one of the hottest targets for cyber attacks, with some suggesting that healthcare has led all industries with 42.5 percent of overall breaches identified in 2014, a continuation of a three-year trend.
“The level of speculation around attacks, targets and persistent threats has reached an all-time high,” said Daniel Nutkis, chief executive officer of HITRUST. “To combat this growing concern, we need more facts to better dissect threats and develop a corresponding strategy to address them. This research will provide valuable data to those charged with keeping healthcare information secure.”
Approximately 210 health plans and provider organizations will be recruited to participate in the study. To support the collection of the cyber information, HITRUST will provide participants with software, hardware and expertise to detect, analyze and monitor networks free of charge for the study’s duration, which is expected to be approximately 90 days.
HITRUST, Risk Management, IT and Data Security, US, Daniel Nutkis
