CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — U.S. hospitals have received warnings about potential Russian cyberattacks as a result of the Ukraine situation. We were joined by Dr. Surani to discuss what's going on
We asked, what actions can hospitals and health systems take to reduce their vulnerability to Russian hacking?
"The challenge that the hospitals are facing is very unique," said Dr. Surani, "Because the healthcare industry lags behind compared to the banking and other industries who spend a tremendous amount of money on I.T. and the safeguarding of data."
"Whereas in the hospital you have a lot of important pieces of information. But on the other hand, this is what we call a 'soft target'," Dr. Surani explained. "Those are outdated systems, so there's a lot of loopholes where the hacker can go into the mainframe system."
"Ransomware has been very common," said Dr. Surani, adding to the financial strain that hospitals have been facing.
"Hospitals will need to take a very close look," Dr. Surani said about I.T. budgets in healthcare, "And maybe they need to come up with a very simple solution, like double-lock identification."
"Yes it will take time, it will be a little bit painful on the front end, but it will save a lot of grief for the physicians, nurses, and patients on the back end."
It's all a matter of preparing, budgeting, and planning ahead.
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
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