Cyber Risk Study Shows Health Care Vulnerabilities

NASHVILLE, Tennessee—Clearwater, a provider of cybersecurity and compliance solutions for the health care industry, published a new report that found that nearly three out of every five assets in health care are vulnerable to cyberattack. 

The data appears in Clearwater’s Cyber Risk Benchmark Trend Report for Healthcare Vulnerability Management, a detailed look at how different segments of the healthcare ecosystem are performing with regard to managing vulnerability exposures that can lead to debilitating cyberattacks.

Derived from data within Clearwater’s Security Operations Center (SOC) and managed security platform, the new report breaks down vulnerability findings across three main healthcare segments:

• Healthcare software, analytics, and business services
• Physician, dental, and specialty practice clinics
• Healthcare centers and surgical hospitals
   

The data included in the report covers a six-month period from the latter part of 2024 thru the beginning of 2025. 

“Healthcare environments create a vast attack surface that requires constant risk management. Cyberattacks targeting sensitive health data, aiming to disrupt patient care or infiltrate a healthcare supply chain, rely on vulnerability exposures to facilitate their tactics,” said Steve Akers, Clearwater’s corporate chief information security officer and chief technology officer of the company’s managed security services team. “Security leaders in healthcare are keen to know where they stand as compared to like organizations when it comes to vulnerability management, whether it is performed in-house or with a managed security service provider (MSSP). This report aims to fill that void.”

Along with the trending data and insight, the report includes recommendations from Clearwater’s MSSP team on steps that can be taken to make improvements in how vulnerabilities are being managed.