Cyber attacks on Indian healthcare industry second highest in the world: Report

New Delhi: The number of cyber attacks on Indian healthcare industry were second highest globally, with 7.7 per cent of total incidence on the segment being witnessed in the country in 2021, cyber security intelligence firm CloudSEK said on Tuesday.

According to CloudSEK report on "Increased cyber attacks on the global healthcare sector", US healthcare industry faced 28 per cent of the total global attacks.

"India recorded the second highest number of attacks, with a total of 7.7 per cent of the total attacks on the healthcare industry in 2021," the report said.

The 7.7 per cent of cyber attack incidence in the Indian healthcare industry translates into over 71 lakh records, according to the report.

CloudSEK is among the entities that provides cyber threat intelligence to Indian cyber security watchdog CERTin.

According to the firm, the technological advancement in the healthcare industry like remote health monitoring, electronic health records and the Internet of Things (IoT) provided cyber criminals with more opportunities to attack the sector.

The data collated by CloudSEK shows that there have already been 1.87 lakh records in the first four months of 2022.

The dynamics of attack seem to have changed in 2022 at global level. Australia has been the most-hit country with around 70 crore records followed by Thailand which has faced over 10 crore records in the first four months of 2022, according to the report.