The NHS has urged its suppliers in an open letter to commit to stronger cybersecurity practices amid rising threats.
Britain’s health service has called on its suppliers to agree to a voluntary cybersecurity charter that aims to shore up the NHS supply chain and critical systems in the face of a ransomware “endemic”.
A handful of recent high-profile data breaches, including against major retailer M&S, has highlighted how at risk IT systems are from bad actors.
The NHS itself faced a ransomware attack against its pathology supplier Synnovis last year, thought to have been carried out by Russian gang Qilin.
The organisation has therefor set out a handful of pledges for its suppliers to implement where “reasonably necessary”.
These include robust checks to ensure systems are kept up to date, regular vulnerability and threat assessments and protected backups of all critical data.
“Ransomware attacks on healthcare organisations continue to pose a significant risk – not just operationally, but also in terms of real human impact,” said Darren Williams, founder and chief executive of BlackFog.
“Given the spate of ransomware attacks that has impacted both public and private sector, initiatives which incentivise providers are a necessary step. It’s not only about safeguarding patient data but also ensuring the continuity of critical services.”
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