{"id":3973,"date":"2023-02-21T13:32:12","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T13:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itegriti.com\/kw022024\/?p=3973"},"modified":"2023-02-28T14:43:30","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T14:43:30","slug":"importance-of-us-healthcare-supply-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itegriti.com\/kw022024\/2023\/cybersecurity\/importance-of-us-healthcare-supply-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of US Healthcare Supply Chain"},"content":{"rendered":"

The importance of a secure supply chain in this industry is critical for any country but hits the US especially hard due to the vast amount of U.S. (67% in 2021) adults who take prescription drugs on a daily basis.<\/em><\/p>\n

The most nefarious part about a supply chain attack is that it puts everyone at risk \u2013 the enterprise, the downstream suppliers, and everyone connected to them.<\/em> However, when it comes to healthcare, that risk radius extends to human lives. And yet, to defend them, medical providers are forced to increase their supply chain ties. The stakes are higher, and the consequences more deadly as increasingly connected healthcare organizations struggle to contain an ever-expanding attack surface.<\/p>\n

A High-Value Target<\/h2>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t have your health, you don\u2019t have anything,\u201d the saying goes. The same is true of a nation\u2019s health. Hackers know this, and the high-stakes, immediate, and interconnected nature of the medical industry make it a prime target for attack<\/a>. To that point, the healthcare sector now experiences more attacks from external third parties<\/a> than from insiders.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need additional evidence to know that widespread sickness can defeat societal morale, nor do we need any proof that destroying hospitals ruins human lives. Neither do threat actors. As critical national infrastructure continues to be the target<\/a> of nation-state cyberwarfare, hospitals find themselves in the direct line of fire.<\/p>\n

The high-stakes and immediate nature of the medical industry make it a prime target for attack. And threat actors go where the money is. In the wake of a global pandemic, now more than ever, that means the healthcare economy. US annual health spending is predicted<\/a> to rise over 5 percentage points a year over the next five years and is forecast to reach $6.2 trillion by 2028. It is estimated that health will represent a one-fifth share of the national economy that year and that the price of medical goods and Medicare will go up, while the number of insured Americans will go down. For better or worse, healthcare promises to be a lucrative industry for years to come.<\/p>\n

This will draw the increased attention of hackers, but chances are they won\u2019t come through the front door. Hospitals, medical groups, and pharmaceuticals have long and far-reaching supply chains, and even more so after the demands of Covid-19. These highways are built to deliver quick impact to the front lines of healthcare, and in the wrong hands can exponentiate impact for the worse. The number of supply chain attacks involving third-party components has increased over 600%<\/a> in the past year, and the number of native vulnerabilities<\/a> arising within software dependencies now affects two-thirds of open-source libraries. Chances are high that any industry with a significant string of downstream partners \u2013 healthcare not excluded \u2013 will be affected in some way.<\/p>\n

Healthcare Supply Chain Trends<\/h2>\n

Some subsets, however, are more likely to be affected than others. And for different reasons.<\/p>\n