The cyber-risk in cardiology: towards an investigation on the self-perception among the cardiologists.

Abstract

The strong demand for health data by cybercrime exposes hospital structures in particular to IT risks. The greater connectivity to existing IT networks has in fact exposed Administrations to new IT security vulnerabilities, as healthcare is an extremely interesting target for cybercrime for two fundamental reasons: on the one hand, it is a source rich in valuable data and on the other, very often, the defenses are weak. The general purpose of the study was to investigate the cybersecurity in cardiology, a strategic field of the health care. The specific purpose of the study was: (I) to perform a first overview in this field; and (II) to investigate the opinion on the cyber-risk in cardiology directly interviewing the actors working in this field, using a properly designed questionnaire submitted using mobile technology. Fifty seven cardiologists participated in the study and filled the proposed questionnaire on their smartphone/tablet. From a global point of view the output of this work allowed to highlight some important issues related to the perception of the cybersecurity specifically on the actors working in the field of the cardiology as for example their opinion on the received and/or needed training. A properly designed questionnaire has been: (I) proposed to investigate the perception of the cybersecurity among subjects working in cardiology; (II) successfully submitted to 57 cardiologists highlighting some critically important issues.