Threat Intelligence for Healthcare

The healthcare industry faces unique cybersecurity challenges as they are the custodians of their clients’ most personal private data. They are bound by strict data privacy regulations and thus are also increasingly targeted by cybercriminals hoping to profit off their data. Threat intelligence is a tool that can help healthcare companies protect sensitive data and monitor for stolen assets. 

How Flare Provides Threat Intelligence for Healthcare

How does Flare monitor threat intelligence for healthcare groups? 

Healthcare security teams are constantly reacting to threats. Ransomware, supply-side challenges, human error, and an expanding attack surface all contribute to the data security challenges faced by the healthcare industry. Flare’s threat intelligence platform allows teams to get ahead of threats by automating the process of scanning for threats. Flare continuously monitors the clear & dark web allowing your team to proactively discover leaked or stolen data or attacks that are still in the planning stages. 

Why use Flare to monitor healthcare threat intelligence? 

Security teams in the healthcare organizations are faced with an ever-expanding attack surface. 

This makes it extremely difficult for cybersecurity analysts to manually map an organization’s external attack surface and find every single possible attack vector. Flare automates the process of scanning for threat intelligence data for information that specifically targets your organization, only notifying your team when relevant information is discovered.

What are the key benefits of Flare’s threat intelligence platform? 

• Automated continuous monitoring: Using an automated solution gives you 24/7 coverage, so you will know as soon as your information appears where it should not be. 
• Relevant alerts: Flare rises above the noise by only delivering notifications when a threat is relevant to your security.
• A proactive security stance: By actively seeking out potential threats, you can catch breaches early and take steps to protect your data, systems, and networks.
• Visibility into the deep and dark web: Flare’s monitoring solution scans clear & dark web to find leaks before an attack happens. 
• Unmatched data collection: Flare uses billions of data points to provide your team with information about your organization’s security stance, relevant threats, and the movement of threat actors between platforms. 
• Transparency: Flare lists every source so you know exactly where your threat intelligence data is coming from. 

A security operations engineer at a digital healthcare organization said,

“Flare has become an integral tool in our SOC process by detecting potential phishing domains, scanning GitLab for data leaks, and identifying user credential leaks. One of my favorite new features is the AI assist which summarizes a finding in seconds. This saves time and eases the analysis process. Thanks to its robust API, we’ve been able to create custom workflows that extract even more value from the tool.”

Threat Intelligence for Healthcare: An Overview

What is threat intelligence? 

Threat intelligence is any data that gives your team information about potential cyberthreats to an organization’s digital assets. The terms “security intelligence” and ”threat intelligence” tend to be used interchangeably, they’re not necessarily the same thing. Security intelligence usually refers to a larger process or strategy, while threat intelligence refers to the data being gathered and used as part of that strategy.

Why does the healthcare industry need threat intelligence? 

Healthcare security teams face unique challenges in today’s cybersecurity environment. The Patient Health Information (PHI) is largely digitized, and the security of those records is heavily regulated. A breach can cost a healthcare organization millions in reputational damage and fines. Security teams are constantly reacting to data leaks, compliance issues, and cyberattacks. Threat intelligence means that healthcare security teams can better understand which threat actors are targeting their organizations, and what attacks they may face. 

What are the four types of threat intelligence?

• Strategic: Strategic threat intelligence provides a high-level overview of threats allowing senior leadership to make decisions based on the current threat landscape. Because it’s  aimed at business leaders, strategic threat intelligence focuses on non-technical information.
• Tactical: Tactical threat intelligence focuses on malicious actors’ tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), providing insight into potential attacks and an attack’s possible impact. 
• Technical: Technical threat intelligence is the information that security teams usually get from their open-source intelligence feeds. Security teams use technical threat intelligence to monitor new threats or investigate security incidents.
• Operational: Operational threat intelligence gives security teams actionable information relating to threat actors’ natures, motives, timing, and methods.

Why is Threat Intelligence so Important for Healthcare Now? 

Why do healthcare organizations need threat intelligence in today’s cybersecurity landscape?

The healthcare industry is facing an increasing number of attacks, as criminals try to access valuable PHI. The large breaches in 2023 contributed to a peak in exposed patient records, with more than 112 million patient records compromised. Threat intelligence is an important tool when it comes to keeping patient records — and healthcare systems and networks — safe.  

What is the impact of a cyber attack on a healthcare organization? 

Cyber attacks can be costly, especially for the healthcare industry. Healthcare has the highest financial cost per data breach at $9.48 million per breach. This includes the costs of business disruptions and outages, as well as compliance and legal fees. However, for the healthcare industry, the cost of a cyber attack can go far beyond monetary loss: disruptions caused by attacks can affect patient care, create operational inefficiencies, and damage public  trust in the healthcare system.

What is the biggest threat to healthcare data security? 

Human error. While cyberattacks against the healthcare industry are rising, research found that in 2023, errors caused the most data breaches in the industry. Human error is a common problem in healthcare and other fields; humans are often the weak spot in security. An example of human error include weak passwords, exposed assets, misconfigured IT infrastructure, and the potential to be tricked by a social engineering attack. 

Threat Intelligence for Healthcare and Flare

The Flare Threat Exposure Management (TEM) solution empowers organizations to proactively detect, prioritize, and mitigate the types of exposures commonly exploited by threat actors. Our platform automatically scans the clear & dark web and prominent threat actor communities 24/7 to discover unknown events, prioritize risks, and deliver actionable intelligence you can use instantly to improve security.
Flare integrates into your security program in 30 minutes and often replaces several SaaS and open source tools. Learn more by signing up for our free trial.