Opinion: Hong Kong’s healthcare system is doing well with tech, but threats remain

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With state-of-the-art infrastructure and a reputation for excellent medical practice, Hong Kong is known for first-class healthcare. It ranks seventh in the world, with women in the country having the longest average life expectancy compared with other countries.

However, Hong Kong’s healthcare system cannot rest on its laurels. According to the first government study on healthcare manpower, Hong Kong’s healthcare industry will face talent shortages in the next 10 years and the most severe scarcity was expected for doctors. To improve productivity and reduce operational costs, the government has eagerly embraced technology to provide innovative solutions to these challenges.

Global Industry Analysts projected that the global market for technology, particularly virtual reality, in healthcare will reach US$3.8 billion by 2020, with Asia Pacific becoming the fastest-growing market.

Telehealth, robotics, and more

The potential applications for technology include everything from “intelligent,” blood-sensitive bandages for dialysis patients to robots that help stroke patients exercise or keep dementia patients occupied. In the operating theater, robotic laparoscopic surgery has become relatively commonplace.

The internet of things and big data are driving positive disruption worldwide in healthcare and other industries. In Hong Kong, there are already a few institutions that are examining how mobility might save time, money, and trouble for procedures that don’t need a personal visit.

Catastrophic risks from security breaches

It all sounds like a brave new world, but there are warning signs on this expressway to digital health management that must not be ignored.

In last year’s CyberArk Global Advanced Threat Landscape Survey, 61 percent of respondents from the US, Europe (France, Germany, and the UK), Israel, and Asia Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore) revealed that attacks affecting healthcare and hospital services are viewed as potentially the most catastrophic threats.

The main concern here is how easily IoT devices can be hacked. They are potentially the most vulnerable targets for cyber-attackers today for the very nature of their connectedness, the personal information they store, and the general lack of security protocols.

Passwords on a stick

IoT devices, like all digital technologies, come with administrative privileges to provide a certain level of security. However, we often overlook the need to change the factory default password on such devices, and default passwords are elementary and easy to hack. We only need to reference the widespread impact wrought by compromised devices of Starhub customers to see the damage potential for the healthcare industry.

The potential damage from hacked IoT devices includes the loss of personal, private patient data and the opening of a gateway into the larger hospital system. Certainly, online repositories of data enable nurses and other professionals to easily provide advice remotely. But what if cyber-attackers get access to such data?

The survey also showed that 53 percent of organizations (across all sectors) still store privileged and administrative passwords in a Word document or spreadsheet, while 39 percent use a shared server or USB stick.

A further threat is allowing third-party vendors access to internal networks. Organizations often overlook remote access controls, leaving an open door into the network. Singapore is the worst performer in this area, with 26 percent of Singaporean enterprises neglecting to secure third-party vendor access and 33 percent not monitoring at all.

The solution (a shared responsibility)

Fortunately, there are well-defined steps that organizations can take to manage these risks.