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Only 5 of 75,560 hospitals and clinics enrolled in security monitoring

Of the 28 cybersecurity incidents reported at private medical institutions from January through September this year, 25 occurred at hospitals and clinics, accounting for 89.3% of the total.

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Hospital building with Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital signage and a glass facade
Exterior of Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, used as an illustrative photo for medical institution security. This does not indicate that the hospital was affected by the incidents counted in the article or that it lacks security monitoring.

Data submitted by the Korea Social Security Information Service to Democratic Party lawmaker So Byung-hoon, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, showed that 61 medical institutions were enrolled in medical-sector security monitoring as of the end of September this year. The Korea Social Security Information Service operates the service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Of the country's 75,560 hospital- and clinic-level medical institutions, five were enrolled in security monitoring, an enrollment rate of 0.007%. Among general hospitals, 29 of 273 were enrolled, a rate of 10.6%.

Security monitoring is a security management system that continuously watches for cyber threats across medical institutions' systems and networks. It supports a rapid response when a breach occurs.

Of 35 tertiary general hospitals, 27 were enrolled in security monitoring. Their enrollment rate was 77.1%.

There were 28 cybersecurity incidents reported at private medical institutions from January through September this year. Hospitals accounted for 17 and clinics for eight, together representing 89.3% of the total, while this year's reported count exceeded twice last year's full-year total of 11.

Of this year's 28 cybersecurity incidents at medical institutions, 26 involved ransomware attacks that hold data hostage. Major intrusion routes included ports exposed externally for remote maintenance and vulnerabilities in commercial remote-control software.

Lawmaker So Byung-hoon pointed to weak security infrastructure at small and medium-sized hospitals and clinics and security disparities between medical institutions. He called for measures including larger budgets and incentives so these hospitals and clinics can receive effective support for security monitoring and remote-access control services.