Third-Party Cyber Risk Impacts the Health Care Sector the Most. Here’s How to Prepare. | AHA News
AHA
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Contributed by: Drex DeFord
Summary
Cyberattacks on healthcare organizations represent a significant risk to patient care and safety, affecting not just individual hospitals but entire communities. Particularly disruptive are ransomware attacks on third-party providers, as these critical vendors support essential hospital functions. The 2023 attack on UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare by the Russian ransomware group ALPHV BlackCat exemplifies the extensive impact such attacks can have. Healthcare organizations are advised to enhance their third-party risk management programs through structured strategies, including rigorous risk assessments and incident response planning. Preparedness is crucial as cybercriminals increasingly target these third-party "hubs" to maximize disruption across "spoke" health entities.
