Major cyberattacks have occurred. Huge data breaches have been suffered. Almost 113 million healthcare records have been exposed so far in 2015. Understandably healthcare providers and insurers are now committing more funds to improving cybersecurity defenses and the healthcare cybersecurity market is exceptionally strong.
Healthcare Cybersecurity Market to Reach $10.85 billion by 2022
A new report recently issued by research and consulting firm Grand View Research suggests that the situation is unlikely to change over the next few years. Regulation is likely to increase in the wake of further massive data breaches. More cyberattacks will be suffered and the introduction of new technology will require new safeguards to protect electronic data.
Consequently, the healthcare cybersecurity market is likely to grow considerably over the course of the next seven years. Grand View has predicted that the healthcare cybersecurity market will be worth a staggering $10.85 billion by 2022.
Healthcare Cybersecurity Market Fueled by Rapidly Changing Threat Landscape
The threat landscape is constantly changing. As new threats are identified, new measures must be introduced to deal with those threats. Spending must therefore be increased accordingly. Healthcare providers are now having to deal with SQL injection, DDoS attacks, malware, ransomware, spyware, malicious mobile apps, and memory-based malware.
The healthcare industry is increasingly being attacked, and must deal with internal threats as well as fending off attacks by hackers. Cloud services are being increasingly used as are mobile devices, and many organizations have adopted BYOD schemes. Data security risks have increased substantially as a result.
Cyberattacks on healthcare institutions have increased in both number and severity. The days of the 1 million-record data breach being a rarity have long since gone. Exposure of patient and health plan data in the millions may not be the norm, but the number of major data breaches has increased considerably in 2015.
Anthem Inc., had 78.8 million records exposed. Premera Blue Cross had 11 million records stolen. Excellus suffered a 10-million record data breach. UCLA suffered a 4.5 million-record cyberattack. Medical Informatics Engineering had a 3.9 million-record security breach and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield had 1.1 million records stolen.
The cost of breach resolution and risk mitigation following such incidences of massive data theft, coupled with the potential fallout from cyberattacks of this scale, make investment in defenses to protect against attack far more attractive. It has been estimated that the cost of dealing with healthcare data breaches is now in the region of $6 billion per year.
For healthcare providers and insurers, there is now little alternative but to invest more heavily in cybersecurity protections.
A History of Poor Investment in Cybersecurity Defenses
Even the introduction of HITECH, the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, and major non-compliance and data breach fines have not been sufficient to boost cybersecurity spending much over the past few years. Investment in defenses has been well behind other industry sectors and there has been a general lack of awareness of the threat landscape by many healthcare organizations. That has now changed.
Global Growth to Fuel Healthcare Cybersecurity Market
The report indicates the United States holds the largest market share (over 41%), and this is where much of the investment will be seen over the coming 7 years. The United States has the highest number of Fortune 500 companies, making it the biggest target for cybercriminals.
The Asia-Pacific market is growing and has a CAGR of over 8.5% over the next 7 years, and major cybersecurity investment is expected in the region. The report also highlights the growth of in the number of Internet users in China and India. There are expected to be 402 million internet users in India alone by the end of 2015. Healthcare providers in these new markets will need to improve their infrastructures and systems, and similarly invest heavily in cybersecurity defenses, further fueling growth in the healthcare cybersecurity market.