Cyber-physical attacks and the value of healthcare data: Facing an era of cyber extortion and organised crime

Abstract

Cybercrime has reached to a level that any cyber-attack can cause great levels of extortion. With the support of technology, healthcare organisations have been able to enhance medical treatment assuring better solutions to improve lifestyle of people. Likewise, criminals are attracted to the information allocated within hospital and clinics regardless of physical or digital storage. Electronic Health Records (EHR) are the most important asset in healthcare and criminals are aware of their value in the black market, including the dark web. This paper analyses the impact of cyber-attacks to healthcare organisations including methods used by criminals to enhance their anonymity, and the value of healthcare data nowadays. It studies blockchain, The Onion Router (TOR) and other common tools to ensure security and privacy while navigating through the internet and the reason why cybercriminals take advantage of the dark web to sell stolen information from hospitals in order to get higher financial gain. It also looks at the levels of extortion that is caused to organisations and how people are compromised.