РНБОУ National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine

Cybersecurity issues in healthcare and personal data protection were discussed at the National Cybersecurity Cluster

The participants of the XIX meeting of the National Cybersecurity Cluster on "Cybersecurity in Healthcare and Medicine: Main Challenges and Threats" discussed the issues of medical data protection and countering cyberattacks in healthcare information systems.

The event, which took place on May 23, 2023, was organized by the National Cybersecurity Coordination Center at the NSDC of Ukraine in cooperation with the US Foundation for Civilian Research and Development with the support of the U.S. Department оf State.

Opening the meeting, Head of the NCSCC Support Service of the NSDC Staff Serhiy Prokopenko noted that russian hostile attacks have two goals: destruction of infrastructure and access to personal data of citizens.

"The protection of personal and medical data is very important, especially when our country is at war. russian hackers are constantly trying to steal Ukrainians' data for cyberattacks and information campaigns. Therefore, we must pay special attention to cybersecurity issues at the strategic, organizational and technical levels. After all, anyone in the public and private sectors can become an element of an attack on the supply chain," said Prokopenko.

Deputy Minister of Health Maria Karchevych said that digitalization of healthcare has been growing rapidly in recent years. "Ukraine has approved a five-year eHealth Development Concept. Every year, a corresponding roadmap of digital projects is approved, which this year includes 107 projects. Among them, cybersecurity and measures taken to improve its level occupy an important place," Karchevych said.

More than 200 representatives from 80 organizations took part in the event online. The key speakers at the event were representatives of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the National Health Service of Ukraine, eHealth, CISA and other organizations responsible for digitalization and cybersecurity in the industry.

"The healthcare sector requires special attention in building reliable cybersecurity in our country. First of all, it is the security of personal data of each patient. Thanks to the National Cybersecurity Cluster, we can discuss all the pressing issues and develop a comprehensive approach to protect each industry and the entire country," said Mykhailo Verich, Chief Operating Officer of CRDF Global.

According to the National Health Service of Ukraine, in 2022, the enemy carried out targeted phishing and DDoS attacks on the Ukrainian electronic healthcare system (EHS) and applications. However, the system is well protected, so all attacks were unsuccessful. In particular, the effectiveness of the system's cyber defense was noted by the participants of the event.  In addition, according to our American partners, healthcare is also among the top 3 areas with the highest frequency of cyberattacks in the United States.