Combating Health-Related Cyber Security Threats with Health Systems Approaches
By Drs. Sebastian Kevany and Deon Canyon* Cyber Attacks on Health Systems A clear overlap between cyber security and public health realms was made evident during the cyber attacks on Ireland’s health system in May 2021. Through an encryption process, hackers were able to disable the functionality of the Irish health system, putting lives at risk through the postponement of operations and other essential services. The challenge faced by the Irish government, and the public health system, was to weigh the trade-offs between paying ransom to the hacking group versus risking the release of protected public health information. At the [...]
