A new report has warned of far-reaching implications that vulnerable legacy applications have for healthcare organisations when defending against cyber attacks.

Co-authored by cybersecurity consultancy AbedGraham and healthcare data management specialists BridgeHead Software, the paper pointed out that with the devastating effect of the Wannacry attacks of 2017, and the increase of cyber-crime specifically targeting the healthcare industry, organisations need to take action to protect themselves.

Saif Abed, co-author of the whitepaper, commented that healthcare is the new frontier of cyber crime. “Attackers are looking for any way they can to compromise systems and networks at scale even if that means threatening patient care.

“Legacy applications, in particular, are often riddled with vulnerabilities ready to be exploited by everyone from petty opportunists to major organised crime.”

In a 2019 survey, The Center for Connected Medicine polled IT executives across 38 health systems, concluding that cyber security continues to be the biggest concern across the industry.

Gareth Griffiths, chief technology officer at BridgeHead Software and co-author of the white paper, agrees with these findings, commenting that problems are not just limited to the challenges associated with recovering systems and data, it’s the disruption to hospital operations and critical patient services that create a domino effect.

“From discharge and referral delays, cancellation of elective surgical procedures, the redistribution and transfer of patients to alternative providers, the list goes on – these effects can have a direct bearing on a hospital’s finances, regulatory compliance, legal position, and reputation.

“So, why not eliminate or, at the very least, mitigate these risks by reducing the threat – decommission legacy applications and remove the security loopholes that cyber-criminals are increasingly drawn to,” added Griffiths.

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