Security
Hospitals and Research Labs Defend Against Virus-Themed Malware
With more administrators willing to pay to make IT headaches go away, medical facilities are especially vulnerable.
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With their mountains of personal data, outdated software, internet-connected equipment, and thousands of employees, hospitals have long drawn the unwanted attention of hackers. Now, as they focus all their resources on battling the pandemic, hospitals are even more tempting targets. We spoke to security experts about the ways the crisis is making hospitals more vulnerable to attack.
Hospitals everywhere are racing to stock up on supplies of gowns, face masks, and ventilators. All that new equipment means finding new vendors, some of which are entering hospital supply chains without the usual security checks, Maor says. A vendor whose system has been compromised can unwittingly give hackers a backdoor to infiltrate hospital files.