A recent study had already shown that the healthcare sector is the most affected and sought-after target by cybercriminals (24% globally) in the world because it contains a more complete data package, including sensitive personal data. This vulnerability in healthcare systems has created an opening for patients to become victims of scams resulting from these leaks.
According to data from the Check Point Research, released earlier this year, the scams related to healthcare data They increased by 64%, second only to retail.
In the ranking of countries most affected by cyberattacks Globally, Brazil ranks second, behind only the United States, the primary target of cybercriminals so far.
Only last year, the Brazil has recorded a record of approximately 2,8 billion sensitive data points exposed., causing the country to remain at the top of the ranking in the "Online Criminal Activity Report in Brazil" for the second consecutive year.
Sensitive personal data is the main target of cybercriminals.
Data such as phone number, CPF (Brazilian tax identification number), full name, ethnicity, email, health conditions, sexual orientation, biometric and genetic information are the "gold" that these hackers are after, whether for selling this information or for scams.
In the healthcare sector, this sensitive data is obtained through hacks into systems such as healthtech applications and telemedicine platforms, and subsequently sold.
Luis Albinati, CEO and founder of the Vitalícia platform, says: “All these tools have numerous links in their access chains and can provide easy access for hackers and create cybersecurity breaches. If this occurs, data leaks can cause incalculable damage, as it involves a range of sensitive information that can be used for, for example, accessing social media profiles, attempting to obtain loans, sending fraudulent links, and even accessing bank accounts.”
The COVID-19 pandemic was a catalyst for this "boom" in situations involving data leaks, because, overnight, everything needed to be automated in response to global chaos, thus exponentially increasing the vulnerabilities to systems that, until then, had not needed to consider this as a priority.
Geraldo Guazzelli, director of Netscout Arbor in Brazil, said in an interview with the EFE news agency: “The more technology you bring to good, the more doors you open for wrongdoing (…) Every time you evolve with protection technology, the attacker discovers a new way to invade you (…) and the criticality has been increasing significantly in the capacity of attacks, which has been growing considerably because the whole world revolves around technology.”
We cannot forget that now with the General Law of Data Protectionthe theme privacy This has been a recurring topic, and companies are increasingly seeking to make their systems more sophisticated.
And as scandals involving large companies come to light, this need for improvement in systems takes on an increasingly urgent character.
“Even with the General Data Protection Law (LGPD), healthcare companies in the country still lack adequate security. Investment in information privacy focused on technology is considered unnecessary by many organizations. As a result, more and more companies tend to fall victim to cyberattacks and become targets of penalties.”"That's all," concludes Albinati.
