Healthcare Cybersecurity Threatened using Web Application Attacks
Web application attacks are becoming an increasingly popular cyberattack method and continue to threaten healthcare cybersecurity. As per the Verizon Business 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), there has been a significant increase in web application attacks on healthcare. These attacks overtook miscellaneous errors in the system and are the leading cause of the breaches. 76 percent of all system intrusion-based attacks are targeted at healthcare branches.
A web application is a program stored in a remote server delivered over the Internet through a browser interface. These include spreadsheets, email programs, online forms for patient portals, patient monitoring applications, and online pharmacies.
Basic Web Application Attacks (BWAA) primarily involve attacks that target an organization’s most exposed infrastructure, such as web servers. By taking advantage of the weakness found in Internet-facing computers or programs using software, data, or commands to cause unintended or unanticipated behavior. This attack relies on stolen credentials from other types of attacks, including DDoS, SQL Injection, and cross-site scripting (XSS). Out of the selection, a DDoS attack is an effective method as they flood the victim’s network with unwanted traffic and network resources, making the targeted web application unusable.
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To mitigate the risk of such attacks, The HHS Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) has suggested the following tips to consider:
- • Automated Vulnerability Scanning and Security Testing
- Organizations can use tools that help find, analyze, and mitigate vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in the network. This can tamper with any attempts made by bad actors and slow their progress in gaining access. Occasional testing also helps in identifying security weakness that needs to be resolved.
- • Web Application Firewalls
- Hardware and software solutions that protect application security threats by filtering, monitoring, and blocking malicious traffic from traveling to the web application. These tools are constantly updated with new definitions designed to catch the latest attacks and exploitation techniques.
- • Secure Development Testing
- The security team will consider the threats and attacks that might impact the application or product to help make it as secure as possible. In the product's lifecycle, secure development testing can uncover the latest security risks and attack vectors. This is a practical approach to identifying and preventing website attacks and minimizing the consequences of breaches.
There are many methods of security implementations that help shield the web application and mitigate security risks. These can affect the healthcare system's confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
About the Author
Ruben George