White Home pushes for stronger healthcare cybersecurity requirements

Investing.com — U.S. healthcare organizations could face stricter cybersecurity measures to curb information breaches, following assaults on Ascension and UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH), a senior White Home official mentioned Friday.

Anne Neuberger, Deputy Nationwide Safety Advisor for Cyber and Rising Expertise, highlighted the urgency of recent guidelines after breaches in 2023 uncovered information from over 167 million People.

“On this job, one of the crucial regarding and actually troubling issues we cope with is hacking of hospitals, hacking of healthcare information,” Neuberger mentioned.

Proposals embrace encrypted information to stop entry even when leaked and necessary compliance checks. The Division of Well being and Human Providers plans to replace HIPAA requirements, with estimated prices of $9 billion within the first 12 months and $6 billion yearly from years two to 5.

Hospitals have been compelled to function manually and People’ delicate healthcare information, psychological well being data and different data are “being leaked on the darkish net with the chance to blackmail people,” Neuberger mentioned.

Cyberattacks on healthcare organizations have surged, with hacking incidents up 89% and ransomware assaults up 102% since 2019, Neuberger famous.