Addressing Cybersecurity Issues in Radiology

Cybersecurity continues to be a daunting challenge in health care. In the first half of 2024, 387 data breaches involving 500 or more health-care records were reported to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’s Office for Civil Rights.¹

While a 2023 survey revealed that 63 percent of radiologists received cybersecurity training, only 38 percent of respondents felt confident after the training.²

In a recent interview at the RSNA conference, Raj Chopra, M.D., the chief medical officer of Merge by Merative, discussed his own experience dealing with a cyberattack that led to turmoil, delays and frustration at multiple practices, and an unresponsive security vendor.

“The vendor that was working with us decided to turtle up. The communication just stopped, which means all the frustration came on us as the clinicians and the radiologists, and it was a light bulb moment (that we needed) a better plan internally to deal with when cyberattacks occur,” recalled Dr. Chopra. “But we also need the vendors to provide a platform where we can communicate with them and trust them that they're working on the solution so twe can say that information to patients, to staff and the (referring) clinicians that are out there.”

(Editor’s note: For additional coverage from the RSNA conference, click here.)

Dr. Chopra emphasized that radiology is a key target for criminals so diligence in following cybersecurity protocols and communication are pivotal in preventing and responding to cyberattacks. He used the analogy of a California utility company’s response when electrical power is lost.

“They'll tell you (with) step one that there is a problem. They'll tell you with step two that they're working on the problem. Step three, they'll tell you that they have professionals at the site trying to figure out what's going on. Then they give you an estimate of time. Once that estimate of time is getting close to reach, they give you an update, and at the end of that update, they tell you that you're going to be up and running. We as a health care community need to do that too,” noted Dr. Chopra.

(Editor’s note: For related content, see “Five Solutions to Address Cybersecurity Challenges in Radiology,” “Cyberattacks: What Radiology IT Departments Must Do Now” and “How the Convergence of AI and the Cloud Can Unlock Breakthroughs and Cost Savings in Radiology.”)

For more insights from Dr. Chopra, watch the video below.

References

1. Adler S. H1, 2024 healthcare data breach report. HIPAA Journal. Available at: https://www.hipaajournal.com/h1-2024-healthcare-data-breach-report/ . Published July 30, 2024. Accessed December 11, 2024.

2. Merative. 2023 Merge cloud survey. Available at: https://www.merative.com/documents/analyst-report/cloud-survey-report-2023 . Accessed December 11, 2024.