The majority of the top hospitals in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are falling behind on basic cybersecurity measures, reveals a new report by Proofpoint Inc. The findings of the report are based on a Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) analysis.
The analysis conducted on the top hospitals revealed that only a mere 28 percent have implemented the required level of DMARC protection, a validation protocol that protects domain names against cybercriminals.
Majority of UAE hospitals lack DMARC protection
DMARC works authenticates by verifying a sender’s identity prior to allowing the message to reach the intended destination. The process involves three levels of protection – monitor, quarantine and reject.
The report reveals that only 69 percent of UAE hospitals have published a DMARC record, leaving 31 percent with no steps of protection.
Emile Abou Saleh, Regional Director, Middle East and Africa for Proofpoint said, “The healthcare industry is rapidly becoming a target for cybercriminals due to the sensitive patient data these institutions hold. In addition, from an attacker’s perspective, healthcare organizations are high value targets for ransomware attacks as they would have great motivation to pay up to restore systems quickly.
“A broader security strategy will be crucial to secure the future of the healthcare sector in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which has been identified as a priority area under the respective national agendas of both countries. The healthcare industry must pursue a security strategy that focuses on people, because threat actors will continue to convince victims to click malicious links, download unsafe files, install malware, and disclose sensitive information. Moreover, their security strategy will have to adapt to new business models to protect health information wherever it is stored – whether within the hospital or beyond,” he concluded.
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