BJ Sutton Jr.
11/11/2024
Article Review #2
Cyber Victimization within Healthcare Industries
Principles of the Social Sciences
In the Journal Article it explains that for Ethical, Parsimony, and Determinism, because of the cyberattack to healthcare it “disrupted the processing of millions of patients’ prescriptions and services, which delayed access to essential medications and care.” Plus, with “the frequency of these attacks continues to rise, driven by growing vulnerabilities within healthcare systems, because of new digital technologies, such as mHealth, telehealth, and AI-supported diagnostic tools.” In the article they reveal that with the cyber-attacks happening, it forced Corporations to turn to the government to handle the situation, which is based off the unknown sources to the cyber-attacks.
Questionable hypotheses
In the Article one of the biggest conflicts was on how the “the healthcare sector lags most other critical infrastructure sectors in understanding about these risks and developing specific plans to protect, respond to, and recover from cyberattacks (Javaid, 2023).” This also stated, “It is essential for the healthcare industry to not only keep pace with these changes but also to deepen its understanding of the motives and characteristics driving these cyberattacks.”
Research Methods
They used the “study advances the field of healthcare cybersecurity” to help resolve unknown cyber problems within the healthcare systems by “applying the core principles of Routine Activities Theory (RAT) and the Cyber-Routine Activities Theory (C-RAT) framework to identify, analyze, and offer preventive measures against the underlying motives and characteristics of cyberattacks targeting the healthcare sector.” With them using (RAT) and (CRAT) it would help build a better “Understanding of these dynamics and show how they are crucial for developing more effective strategies to protect healthcare systems, safeguard patient privacy, and ensure the continuity of care.”
Data and Analysis
For data insuring records of the attacks “Between 2016 and 2022, most of the 30% of cyber incidents involving data abuse targeted health care organizations (HIMSS, 2023; HIPAA, 2022; Protect Harbour, 2022).” In the year of 2023, “healthcare experienced its worst year for breached records, with a 156% increase from 2022, reaching 133,068,542 breached records and surpassing the previous record of 113 million set in 2015 (HIPPA, 2024).”
Concepts
The hackers would use “phishing emails that is a deceptive tactic where attackers send emails that appear legitimate to trick recipients into revealing sensitive information.” They would also use “Ransomware which is malware that locks or encrypts a user’s data until a ransom is
paid.” Although, “Even if the ransom is paid, there is no guarantee the data will be restored.”
Challenges
They also used “(Lack of Capable Guardianship) that plays a significant role in understanding the challenges in healthcare cybersecurity.” Also, “Capable guardianship, according to the original model by Cohen and Felson (1979), referred to the presence of people or passers who could effectively deter or prevent criminal activities through their presence or intervention.”
Contribution Conclusion
For this Conclusion “the current study used the RAT framework to understand the key motives driving cyber-attacks on the healthcare sector and to examine why the healthcare industry remains an attractive target for cybercriminals.” Also, “highly reliable open-source data was being used, offering extensive coverage of incidents across various regions and organizations.”
Cite Source
Praveen Y, Kim M, Choi K-S. Cyber victimization in the healthcare industry: Analyzing offender motivations and target characteristics through routine activities theory (RAT) and cyber-routine activities theory (cyber-RAT). International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2024 Nov 12];7(2):2. Available from: https://vc.bridgew.edu/ijcic/vol7/iss2/2/