The annual HIMSS conference covers all areas of healthcare IT, and cybersecurity was clearly top-of-mind for organizers and attendees at this year’s event. Nyotron was part of the Cyber Security Command Center on the exhibit floor that was designed to educate attendees on how to take the fight to the cyber attackers. It’s going to be a long, difficult fight.
The industry has made some progress over the last year. HealthcareITNews reports the number of breaches hit a three-year low in 2018. However, the average number of individuals affected per breach last year was more than double that of 2017.
HIMSS19 organizers report this year’s event drew 42,595 registrations which ranks among the highest ever. We met with hundreds of IT pros who work at hospitals, mental health facilities, health plan providers, and government agencies. One common thread that ran through those conversations was how to protect their endpoint devices, and the invaluable protected health information (PHI) stored on them or accessible through them.
The industry must realize it has become a prime target for cyber thieves. Stolen medical records command a premium price on the black market – up to $1,000. Nir Shafrir, our VP of Global Field Engineering and Customer Success, opened a lot of eyes with his live laptop hacking demonstration that showed attendees just how easy and quickly attackers can gain access and control over their endpoints.
We also walked attendees through demos of how our PARANOID solution improves on traditional Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) technologies by both detecting and preventing damage – even if a device has already been infected. Check out this video to see how.
It didn’t take long for all of us who were in Orlando to be reminded of how vulnerable the industry still is. Just one week after HIMSS19 ended, UConn Health and The Kentucky Counseling Center both made headlines by reporting data breaches that exposed their patients’ confidential information.
Even in this age of cloud computing, employees still create and store a majority of files (including patient data) on their endpoint devices. To learn more about how PARANOID can help your organization thwart even advanced malware that evades your antivirus solutions, email us at info@nyotron.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
