What if your medical records were accessible to everyone?

This is a question that the healthcare system around the world is battling due to the increasing number of infringements on their database.

Cyber attacks on healthcare facilities have been rising over the past years but have especially skyrocketed post the pandemic when the rapid demand for healthcare services resulted in a boom in the amount of sensitive data hospitals were handling.

In an old episode of The Wall Street Journal’s podcast “The Journal”, Kate Linebaugh highlighted how hospitals in the US were specifically targeted by alleged Russian hackers and the data was held for ransom. This same model was replicated in schools as well, blackmailing the staff in place of monetary gain.

Cyber Crime Syndicates and Organized Crime in general i.e. Cyberspace have shot up considerably in the past and have caused quite a menace worldwide. Groups that have historically been involved in these activities have evolved from basement set-ups to now having full-fledged office spaces.

India has borne the brunt of this situation considerably - according to the CyberPeace Foundation Center of Excellence, there have been nearly 1.9 million attack events recorded in 2022 itself, AIIMS being one of them.

The question remains - How will the healthcare industry tackle this problem? Would pairing up with cyber security companies at a time of cash crunch mean inevitable financial turmoil or would the openness to attack lead to them being out of business altogether?