The COVID crisis has significantly increased the volume of data healthcare providers are rushing into the cloud. This “smash and grab” behavior is largely explained by the spike in healthcare workers doing their jobs remotely.
Also on the rise are “smuggler” activities, a catchy name for consolidation of large data stores from providers’ internal servers to unexpected external systems.
While neither of these actions are necessarily perilous in and of themselves, both are exploitable by nefarious actors.
The findings and commentary come from Vectra AI, a cybersecurity concern based in San Jose. The company released a report June 30, stating it drew on observations from a sample of 363 opt-in organizations in healthcare and eight other industries.
The report also shows North America, along with Europe, the Middle East and Africa, experiencing increases in external data movement, or “exfiltration,” consistent with cloud migration.
In a news release publicizing the report, Vectra security head Chris Morales says cloud computing optimizes resource allocation in healthcare—but also exposes sensitive data to considerable risks.
“This is especially true when cloud adoption happens faster than proper due diligence can be applied by information security personnel,” Morales says. “This trend will persist well after the pandemic.”
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.