Cyber Attacks on Assisted Living Facilities

Introduction

Nursing homes and assisted living businesses are being targeted by bad actors and hackers. This is in addition to the string of cyber attacks that have affected hospitals and other healthcare providers. Unfortunately, a lot of these establishments have old and outdated networks and cybersecurity methods, making them easy targets for exploitation and hacking. It’s important for many of these establishments to be more in-tune with the current cybersecurity trends.

Many hospitals and other healthcare providers coast on things like cybersecurity insurance and other stopgaps that might assist with an attack. Realistically, this is not a good solution to the growing threats of cybersecurity. All businesses should take cybersecurity seriously, considering cyber threats are becoming more and more advanced with the improvements of technology.

The fact of the matter is this: even if insurance takes care of a business’s losses during a cyberattack, the sensitive information can’t be taken back. If a customer’s information is taken, there’s no real way to erase it on the hacker’s side. When a company suffers an attack of this nature, they sometimes supply their affected customers with an identity protection agency, but this isn’t always the case. Regardless, the damage to the customers has been done.

Why are senior and assisted living so easy to attack?

When it comes to networks and computer systems, some businesses have some very old equipment. Unfortunately, there isn’t much regulation on these establishments, so not much is done until it’s too late. Insurance and other remediation services replace things that are stolen, and as such, some get lax in their cybersecurity posture.

There’s no easy way to say it, but if there were more regulations and financial assistance for these businesses, there would be a lot less attacks that get through. There have already been so many attacks this year that many nursing homes have had leaked information and some have even shut down or filed for bankruptcy. Needless to say, these things are completely avoidable if you take cybersecurity seriously.

Cybersecurity programs and services can be relatively expensive, depending on how big the business is. However, there are many grants and other financial assistance programs that can help if the business doesn’t have enough in their budget. Either way, the protecting a customer’s information should be at the top of the list when it comes to doing business, and only some businesses prioritize that.

Senior Living Cybersecurity

With senior living and assistant living homes being the targets of cyberattacks, it is important to know exactly what your community is doing to prevent it. When looking for a place for your loved ones to live, it should be a place where you feel comfortable that they will be kept safe. Physical safety is a big factor, but their information should be a big factor as well.

When touring these places, it’s a good idea to ask about cybersecurity policies and other various conditions of the company’s networks. Some other things to ask is about how often security awareness training is done. While the average employee may not know much about that information, it’s still a good idea to press for it.

Considering that most cyberattacks happen because of employees and human error, security awareness training is a must for most places. It’s also one of the cheaper services and helps bring risk down quite a bit. However, even if they don’t include many cybersecurity options, there are many tools available to the healthcare industry. Even a few scans can help prevent a bad actor from getting into the network, so make sure that you’re aware that your senior living home is doing its due diligence.

Conclusion

When looking around for a proper senior care or assisted living location, it’s important to know what they do for cybersecurity. Security awareness training is a big factor in many defenses for a business, but even free scans from government websites can go a long way. Cybersecurity is just as important as physical and mental security when it comes to these places, especially because the healthcare industry is an easy target for bad actors.

Hospitals, assisted living, and other similar businesses usually have older networks and outdated cybersecurity measures. This is usually because of either the lack of funds or because they’re confident their insurance will take care of anything. However, this still leaves customer information vulnerable and easy to get to by bad actors. Be sure to find an institutions that take cybersecurity seriously.