According to the Global Connected Industries Cybersecurity Survey conducted by Irdeto, a Swedish software company, 82% of healthcare companies utilizing Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices were attacked via one of those devices in the past year.
Irdeto surveyed 700 security officers from healthcare companies and firms in the transportation, manufacturing and IT industries in the U.S., U.K., China, and Japan. There were IoT devices attack in all the industries surveyed, nonetheless, the most number of cyberattacks was in the healthcare industry.
The biggest threat that may come about from these IoT devices attacks is the theft of patient data. The attacks could likewise endanger end user safety, result in intellectual property loss, downtime in operations and ruin of the company’s good reputation. The failure to appropriately secure the devices can possibly bring about regulatory fines.
Based on the survey findings, a cyberattack on IoT devices could result in the following problems:
- theft of patient data – 39%
- patient safety issues – 20% (In the healthcare industry, 30% that experienced an IoT cyberattack actually mentioned that a cyberattack directly threatened patient safety.)
- stolen intellectual property – 12%
Based on the actual experience of the companies, the major impact of IoT device attacks includes:
- damage to company reputation – 31%
- data theft – 42%
- operational downtime – 43%
Cutting down IoT cyberattacks will entail a high price. The cost of dealing with a healthcare IoT cyberattack was $346,205 on average, which was slightly lower than the transport industry’s $352,639 average.
Though there are threats to utilizing IoT devices, it doesn’t appear to bother hospitals and other healthcare companies. Currently, there are up to 15 million IoT devices being used by healthcare providers. Hospitals usually have 10 to 15 devices for each hospital bed.
It is hard to safeguard IoT devices, however a lot of healthcare providers are aware what are the difficulties. They simply do not have the means to fix those vulnerabilities.
Manufacturing companies should do far more to secure their devices. Security is usually an addendum and security precautions are only add-ons and not incorporated during the developing stage. 49% of device manufacturing companies said security is included in the developing stage of the devices and 53% of manufacturers do code assessments and regular security evaluations.
82% of manufacturers of IoT devices showed concern about device security and the insufficiency of safeguards to prevent a successful cyberattack. 93% of manufacturing companies (as well as 96% of device users) said that security could be improved.
The researchers mentioned that the past mentality of security being an afterthought has changed. 99% think that a security option, and not just the expense, should be an enabler of innovative business models. This plainly shows that businesses know why security is very important to their organization.