Strengthening Healthcare Security Through Insider Risk Management

As organizations continue to streamline, processes and digitize the patient experience, the healthcare industry’s expanding ecosystem connects hospitals and medical offices, research facilities, insurance companies, payment systems, and more. And this interconnected network generates vast amounts of sensitive data—PII, medical histories, intellectual property, banking information—that flow across multiple touchpoints. This has made healthcare a prime target for cyber threats, especially with the growing value of health information on the black market.

Security Threats Too Big to Ignore

According to the 2024 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), the healthcare industry reported over a thousand security incidents in 2023, with nearly 90% resulting in confirmed data loss. That is not just the majority. That is almost ALL. The repercussions of these breaches can be severe and far-reaching, not only to individual health organizations but also to public health and safety on a larger scale. Security incidents can delay treatments, compromise medical devices, and in extreme cases, endanger lives.  Data loss events erode patient trust and can trigger non-compliance with privacy laws like HIPAA, resulting in substantial financial penalties.

Healthcare data breaches remain the most expensive across industries with the World Economic Forum estimating the average cost of a breach in healthcare to be $11 million per incident. (Source: The HIPAA Journal)

A 2024 healthcare security incident led to a $22 million ransom payment and resulted in the shutdown of critical health services, affecting 131 million patients and nearly 67,000 pharmacies nationwide. The entire financial impact of this incident was estimated to be between $2.3 billion and $2.45 billion. Yes, billion. This incident serves as a stark reminder of the critical need for proactive cybersecurity strategies to protect this critical business sector. 

Too often, insider threats are thought to be limited to an organization’s direct workforce, but in this sophisticated landscape, we know contractors, contractor’s subcontractors and the entire supply chain can put organizational safety and security at risk. This also extends to someone on the outside, who has stolen credentials, acting as an “authorized” imposter.

Insider Risk: An Increasingly Stealthy Threat

Insider risk touches almost all security incidents. Whether intentional or accidental, insider actions fuel breaches from ransomware, IoT exploits and phishing attacks to third-party vulnerabilities, careless employee mistakes and malicious “leavers” taking IP with them. With decentralized operations and the constant pressure on staff, mistakes are inevitable, exposing systems to greater threats. This is why broadening the understanding of what constitutes a business threat in the healthcare industry is so important.

Top Security Concerns for the Healthcare Industry

• Phishing and ransomware: Pervasive threats in healthcare, phishing and ransomware attacks hinge on insider actions—whether an employee clicks on a phishing email, downloads a malicious attachment, misconfigures a system or accidentally exposes a password, creating an initial infection vector for attackers.
• Third-party risk: With many data breaches originating from suppliers or service providers, it’s clear that third-party access to sensitive data and critical systems exposes healthcare organizations to increased risk. Supply chain security incidents can be difficult to detect, particularly in cases where a legitimate third party is bribed by an external party, or when a malicious foreign actor masquerades as a contractor. These breaches can be the result of granting more access than necessary or failing to monitor all user activity.
• IoT and cloud vulnerabilities: Adding IoT devices and cloud-based access to resources increase the attack surface. Insider negligence, such as poor password management or unencrypted device configurations, often facilitates these vulnerabilities as well as challenges securing a range of new devices that don’t support off-the-shelf software.
• AI-driven threats: While AI bolsters healthcare innovation, it also empowers attackers with hard-to-detect emails, text messages and malware. Human error in data entry or misusing AI-based tools can inadvertently expose sensitive information or create exploitable vulnerabilities.

The only way to be effective at stopping a security incident is to identify risk early, including throughout a third-party ecosystem. At the forefront of this approach, DTEX captures and elevates behavioral indicators of risk early in the insider threat kill chain. DTEX InTERCEPT^TM consolidates and correlates essential elements of User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA), Data Loss Prevention (DLP), and User Activity Monitoring (UAM) to detect and deter both malicious and non-malicious security risks, enabling enterprise organizations to proactively protect data and lives. Read more about how DTEX supports the healthcare industry here.

Rethinking Healthcare Resilience with Insider Risk Management

A mature insider risk management program integrates education, governance, and advanced technology, while fostering cultural change that is driven from the top. True healthcare industry resilience includes cross-team collaboration, spanning IT, HR, legal, and patient care and must align on governance protocols that extend beyond technology itself. But if you’re not there yet, start with understanding the threat use cases you may be missing and your own security gaps as you evaluate security technology.

Part of longer-term resilience is cultivating a culture of security, where employees understand how their actions impact patient care and data integrity. Security awareness efforts should focus on real-world healthcare scenarios, such as the dangers of social engineering, and how this impacts them both personally and professionally. 

Experience has taught us that true cyber resilience is more than just protecting systems—it is about safeguarding lives, ensuring operational continuity, and preserving the trust essential to patient care.

Critical infrastructure organizations are increasingly turning to DTEX InTERCEPT to proactively protect against insider threats. Read our Industry Quick Look or request a demo to better understand how InTERCEPT overcomes healthcare’s toughest security and compliance challenges.