Security News > 2020 > March > Healthcare devices at higher cybersecurity risk now due to coronavirus
Much of the US healthcare system is running on outdated software and unsupported operating systems, such as Windows 7, leaving devices vulnerable to hackers actively exploiting the coronavirus.
Atlas based part of its findings on a Palo Alto Networks survey of 1.2 million Internet of Things devices used in thousands of healthcare organizations across the US. Palo's survey found that 56% of devices were still running on the Windows 7 operating system, which Microsoft stopped supporting in January of this year.
"Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, hospitals are using patient monitoring devices more than ever," said Rachel Welch, Atlas VPN's COO. "Research shows that one-in-four such devices have security issues. Based on these numbers, Atlas VPN estimates that cybercriminals will be focusing on the healthcare sector in 2020.".
Given the severity of the coronavirus threat and the active targeting of healthcare organizations by hackers looking to cash in using ransomware, more than 40% of healthcare executives were planning to improve their cybersecurity measures in 2020.
Still this leaves many digital medical devices vulnerable today as engineers responsible for maintaining these devices often do not receive proper training or resources to ensure best safety practices are being followed, Atlas said.