Cyber Correlate

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Under attack?
Healthcare & pharma

A patient record is sensitive for life. Your systems only have to fail once.

Clinical systems, patient records and telemedicine platforms hold some of the most valuable data an attacker can sell, and they sit in environments where downtime is a clinical risk rather than an inconvenience.

What is at stake
Patient records and clinical history
Prescription, laboratory and imaging systems
Telemedicine and patient-facing portals
Continuity of care during an incident
Regulatory standing and public trust

Healthcare is now among the most targeted sectors for ransomware, and the reason is simple: the data is valuable, the tolerance for downtime is near zero, and the pressure to pay is clinical as well as financial.

Why it matters

The cost is measured in more than money

Two figures explain why healthcare boards have moved cybersecurity onto the clinical risk register.

$10.93m
Average breach cost

The average cost of a healthcare data breach in 2023, the highest of any sector for the thirteenth consecutive year.

74%
Targeted by ransomware

Nearly three quarters of healthcare organisations reported being targeted by ransomware in a single year.

Years
Recovery timeline

Financial and reputational recovery from a major breach is measured in years, not quarters.

Sources: IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, 2023; industry ransomware reporting, 2024.

Where the risk concentrates

Applications are at the centre of modern care

What insecure applications expose

Sensitive data breaches

Injection and cross-site scripting flaws in patient portals and record systems reach data directly, with no malware involved.

Operational disruption

Ransomware in a clinical environment does not degrade service, it stops it, and the fallback is paper.

Financial and reputational loss

Regulatory penalties, remediation cost and patient trust, recovered over years rather than months.

Third-party exposure

Integrations with labs, insurers and suppliers extend your attack surface to organisations you do not control.

What secure delivery looks like

Security in the pipeline

Controls integrated into development so vulnerabilities are caught at build, not by a scanner in production.

Tested before release

Application testing and code review on the systems that hold records, not only on the public marketing site.

Least privilege by default

Clinical staff, administrators and suppliers each reaching only what their role genuinely requires.

Evidence maintained continuously

Audit and certification treated as an output of daily operation rather than an annual project.

How we help

Four ways in, depending on where you are

Most healthcare providers arrive with one of these four problems. They are usually the same problem at different stages.

Assess

Find out where you stand

Vulnerability assessment and penetration testing across clinical applications, portals and the network they sit on, with findings validated rather than dumped from a scanner.

Protect

Put controls where the data is

Database security, data classification and leakage prevention around patient records, with application shielding in front of the systems patients reach.

Comply

Make the audit an output, not a project

Data protection law, ISO 27001 and payment compliance built into how the organisation runs, with the evidence produced continuously.

Where clinical systems cannot be interrupted, testing is scheduled around service windows and performed against staging environments with agreed scope.
Programme

A sequence that fits clinical constraints

Healthcare cannot take a maintenance window whenever it suits security. The sequence below is designed around that.

Stage 01

Establish

Know what you have and what it exposes: asset inventory, data classification, a risk register and a first assessment of the clinical estate.

Asset inventoryData classificationRisk assessmentBaseline testing
Stage 02

Protect

Controls placed around records and the applications that reach them, plus monitoring that works without touching clinical devices.

Database securityDLPWAFSIEM & monitoring
Stage 03

Sustain

Secure development practice, staff capability and continuous evidence, so the position holds through change and inspection.

Secure development trainingAwareness programmeContinuous complianceIncident readiness
Next steps

Three ways to start, all of them small

01

Strategy roadmap

A call to map your clinical estate, your regulatory obligations and a sequenced plan that respects service windows.

Book a call →

02

Application assessment

Testing on the patient-facing and record-holding applications, scoped to avoid clinical disruption.

Request an assessment →

03

Compliance readiness

A gap analysis against data protection law and ISO 27001, with the evidence plan to close it.

Talk to a consultant →

Protect the record, not just the perimeter.

Start with an assessment of the applications that hold patient data. We scope it around your service windows.