Investing.com — U.S. healthcare organizations could face tougher cybersecurity measures to curb data breaches following attacks on Ascension and UnitedHealth (NYSE:), a senior White House official said on Friday.
Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, highlighted the urgency for new rules after breaches in 2023 exposed data on more than 167 million Americans.
“In this job, one of the most concerning and really concerning things we deal with is hospital hacking, healthcare data hacking,” Neuberger said.
The proposals include encrypted data to prevent access even if it is leaked and mandatory compliance checks. The Department of Health and Human Services plans to update HIPAA standards, with estimated costs of $9 billion in the first year and $6 billion annually from the second to fifth years.
Hospitals have been forced to operate manually and Americans' sensitive healthcare data, mental health information and other information “are leaking onto the dark web with the opportunity to blackmail individuals,” Neuberger said.
Cyberattacks on healthcare organizations have increased, with hacking incidents up 89% and ransomware attacks up 102% since 2019, Neuberger said.
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