Government increases cybersecurity of healthcare sector

Australia’s healthcare sector will receive increased cyber protection as part of the Albanian government’s plan to create a new intelligence center, building on a model already existing in the banking and finance industry. Source: AFR.

The Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (ISAC) is part of an effort to improve national cybersecurity at a systemic level, particularly in high-risk industries. Home Secretary Clare O’Neil announced $6.4 million in pilot funding last week.

ISAC will host a rapid threat intelligence sharing platform that will connect large enterprises, nonprofits, and government organizations operating in healthcare and hospitals, accelerating cyberattack rates and disseminating information about effective cybercrime responses and mitigations.

The Australian Intelligence Agency, Signals Directorate, operates a national system that can feed information to ISAC as required.

Ms O’Neil said Government intervention to revive the model for high-risk sectors was long overdue.

“Healthcare providers tend to store highly sensitive data and often struggle to build and fund strong cybersecurity defenses,” she said. “That’s why health care providers are one of the most common and damaging targets for cyberattacks. It’s a pattern we see all over the world.”

Michelle Fitzgerald, chief digital officer at St Vincent’s Health Australia, said the industry had asked the government for more protection.

“There’s a lot of emphasis on data, but in healthcare we work with patients every day. So this is an additional dynamic and carries additional risk.

“We need to collaborate and share knowledge because we are dealing with a very sophisticated global sector.”

In December, St Vincent’s Health revealed it had suffered a major cyberattack in which it lost data to cybercriminals who gained access to it through a hacked account.

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Enhanced cyber defenses in the key healthcare sector (by Tom McIlroy, Australian Financial Review)