Healthcare data is now more valuable to cyber crooks than credit card or social security numbers and criminals will go the extra mile to obtain it, according to Singapore-based security consultant, Olli Jarva.
Jarva made the comments following a breach of SingHealth’s IT system last week which resulted in the personal data about 1.5 million people, including Singapore’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, being illegally accessed and copied.
The Singapore government described the attack, which it reported on Friday, as the “most serious breach of personal data” that the country has experienced. Cyber security is a top priority for the highly digitalised state of Singapore and the entire ASEAN bloc.
“The healthcare data breach outlines a new reality. Today, we are beginning to see a new and scary fact – healthcare data has grown its value such that hackers are now willing to go the extra mile to obtain it. This has been a growing trend over the past few years, such that healthcare data has outgrown the value of credit card or social security numbers,” he said.
Jarva highlighted that it was time that security was ‘built into’ applications which store healthcare data.
Source: CIO Australia
