Healthcare Incident Response: Triaging Cyber Events to Contain Effects

While medical professionals dedicate their careers to helping others, the organizations they work for are under constant threat in today’s digital world. The healthcare sector is now the most frequently targeted industry for cyber incidents, and the stakes are high as a successful attack can threaten patient safety, lead to regulatory and legal penalties, and significantly damage the reputation of the breached organization.

Let’s examine why medical facilities are in the crosshairs, what the implications are, best practices to reduce the potential damage of a data breach, and how to prepare for the almost-inevitable cyber incident.

Why criminals conduct healthcare cyber attacks

The average person might not put hospitals, medical facilities, private practices and medical insurers at the top of their target list. Yet healthcare data is some of the most sought after by cybercriminals. In fact, The Health Sector Council estimates breached healthcare information is up to 50 times more valuable than financial information.

Stolen credit card numbers might allow for short-term gains, but they can be quickly canceled once fraud is detected. Medical records, on the other hand, contain immutable personal information, including names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and insurance account information — all of which can be used for a variety of scams, fraud and identity crimes.

Last year, the healthcare industry experienced the highest number of data breaches for the fifth year in a row, as indicated in the TransUnion H1 2025 Omnichannel Fraud Report. The report also found healthcare breaches posed the greatest risk, as they received the highest Breach Risk Score (which measures the ability of a breach to enable identity fraud).

Healthcare data breaches: insights and implications

While a breach certainly impacts the individuals whose data is compromised, a cyberattack can have a devastating effect on the healthcare organization as well. Threats like ransomware can cause serious business interruptions (BI) and operational disruptions — blocking access to hospital systems, interrupting diagnostic and surgical procedures, and interfering with patient care.

Medical organizations can also face significant regulatory penalties following a data breach, as HIPAA violations can result in substantial fines. Add the potential legal settlements for class-action suits brought by affected patients, and the financial impact can rapidly escalate.

Considering the personal trust required in medical care, it’s little surprise an institution’s reputation commonly takes a hit after losing customer data — especially when 58% of consumers report that identity theft is their foremost cybersecurity concern. The loss of trust can result in patients rethinking their relationships with healthcare providers.

Protecting healthcare data: Large organizations vs. small practices

The cybersecurity posture of medical organizations can vary greatly depending on their sizes.

Large healthcare organizations like hospitals, medical insurance companies, HMOs and PPOs are typically better resourced to counter cyber threats. Many have in-house IT and cybersecurity teams and invest in advanced threat detection solutions. The complexity of the organization requires coordination across departments and geographies when responding to a cyber event, so many have well-established incident response plans.

Smaller medical offices, clinics and private practices, on the other hand, typically lack the technical, financial and personnel resources to handle IT and cybersecurity internally. They’re more likely to rely on outside vendors, which can increase their exposure to third-party attacks.

As a result, smaller organizations may not have a detailed incident response and breach notification strategy in place, relying instead on managed service providers (MSPs) and incident response firms.

How to prevent data breach in healthcare

The proverb “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is as true in cybersecurity as it is in medicine. Taking steps to avoid and prepare for cyber incidents is critical. Regardless of its size, any healthcare organization can benefit from these recommendations.

1. Develop an incident response plan

An incident response plan is the road map of how the organization will respond to any potential cyber incident. The plan should clearly define the roles and responsibilities of executives and incident response team members, how the organization will communicate to internal and external audiences, what regulatory reporting is required, and what the post-incident review procedures are. To ensure they have a comprehensive strategy, many organizations prefer to work with professionals who specialize in preparing incident response plans, like the TransUnion Incident Response team.

2. Conduct a cybersecurity audit

Knowing how to respond requires understanding where the weaknesses are. Regularly conducting audits of cybersecurity solutions, systems and procedures can identify vulnerabilities in an organization’s ecosystem. These audits should assess network and endpoint security, evaluations of third-party vendors, and routine penetration testing to ensure cybersecurity defenses are working properly.

3. Train employees in cybersecurity best practices

One of the leading causes of cyber events remains human error, so it’s important to build a company culture focused on protecting patient and organization data. Regularly training employees on password hygiene, recognizing social engineering scams like phishing, and how to report suspicious activity can strengthen the organization’s overall security profile. Included in this recommendation is regularly testing the incident response plan so individuals internalize their roles and responsibilities before a crisis arises.

4. Take a multi-layered approach to security

Cybercriminals constantly adopt new technologies to enhance their attacks, which contributes to the persistent nature of cyber threats. To counter these ongoing threats, healthcare organizations need to layer their defenses, both in terms of the solutions deployed and the protocols followed.

Requiring employees to use multi-factor authentication (MFA) to access systems strengthens logins to guard against credential stuffing attacks. Meanwhile, encrypting data at rest and in transit makes any information stolen essentially useless to thieves. Finally, endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions continuously monitor individual devices to recognize threats and stop them with automated responses.

Best practices for healthcare information security

Beyond the technology used to counter attackers, medical facilities and healthcare networks should adopt a zero trust architecture (ZTA) across the organization. ZTA basically takes a “never trust, always verify” approach when dealing with any user or device connected to the network to counter the modern threats that thrive in a decentralized computing environment.

While this strategy is recommended for all organizations, it is particularly important for medical practices and healthcare networks that often have affiliate staff and vendors connecting from different locations.

What to do when a cyber event occurs

One unfortunate truth is even the most robust cybersecurity defenses can be breached by dedicated attackers if they’re given enough time. Given the value of healthcare data, most organizations can expect to be targeted someday — at which point acting swiftly and strategically will be paramount.

Responding to a cyber event can be viewed in two stages:

What to do during a cyber incident

• Initiate the incident response plan. This is when the planning and practice the organization took to prepare will pay off, with clear roles and responsibilities previously defined and in place.
• Contain the threat. Per the incident response plan, the cybersecurity and IT teams should isolate affected systems to prevent the threat from spreading through the network.
• Communicate clearly. Be as transparent as possible with internal stakeholders and report to law enforcement and regulators as needed. The incident response plan should detail who will handle communications with the public and press if necessary.
• Engage incident response specialists. Documenting how the incident occurred, what data is compromised and who is impacted can require specialized skills. Now is the time to bring in forensic investigators and legal counsel as needed.

What to do after a cyber incident

• Report to regulators. In addition to alerting regulators during the incident, following an event the organization will need to ensure compliance with any notification requirements set by HIPAA, HITECH and state laws.
• Notify impacted parties. Patients, employees, partners and anyone else whose data was compromised in a breach will need to be notified in accordance with regulatory and legal requirements. Doing so quickly and clearly is essential to reduce reputational damage, so retaining breach notification service from an experienced team like TruEmpower Incident Response helps streamline the process.
• Conduct a post-mortem examination. The organization’s incident response team — comprising representatives from executive, IT, security, communications and legal departments — should analyze what happened, how it happened, and how to avoid repeats in the future.
• Harden systems and close vulnerabilities. Ensure any vulnerabilities and security gaps identified in the post-mortem are closed. Invest in additional solutions and training as needed to improve the organization’s defenses.

Importance of an incident response policy for a healthcare organization

The reality is most medical practices and healthcare organizations unfortunately will be targeted by cyber threats at some point. Thankfully, organizations can improve their responses and substantially reduce the impact of these events by planning, training and having knowledgeable experts by their side when incidents occur.

Given the complexity of most computer environments and today’s threats, it’s understandable that organizations find incident response a daunting challenge. The good news is skilled professionals like those supporting TruEmpower Incident Response Solutions have handled thousands of events, so they have unique insights into developing a comprehensive incident response plan to prepare for possible events, navigate incidents as they occur, and streamline the recovery process for large and small healthcare institutions alike.

To confer with TransUnion about preparing an incident response plan or for assistance responding to a cyber incident you are currently experiencing, please contact the TruEmpower Incident Response team today.