The European Commission has put forward plans to tighten up hospital cybersecurity EU-wide.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) was hit by a devastating attack in May 2021. A ransomware attack caused computer systems across Ireland’s healthcare system to shutdown.

An independent report carried out after that attack warned of an increasing threat. It also warned that Ireland’s attack could have been much worse if vital medical data had been destroyed.

A raft of recommendations were made to the HSE and government in light of the attack.

The EU estimates that nearly half of all hospitals in Europe have been subject to cyber attacks.

According to the European Commissioner for technological sovereignty, Henna Virkkunen, hospitals are “one of the most targeted sectors in terms of cybersecurity”.

She said that on average data breaches cost hospitals €8 million per attack.

The OECD estimates that 58 percent of European hospital data is stored on the cloud. Around 80 percent of patients in Europe have digital access to their records.

Tech has opened up new possibilities for the medical sector to become more efficient, effective and transparent.

But it technology also brought new risks.

The European Commission is now proposing to support the sector to better bolster against cyber criminals.

“Health care is part of our the most critical infrastructure, and therefore we need to increase its level of resilience”, said the European Health Commisioner, Olivér Várhelyi.

The EU wants governments to help hospitals “fight cybercrime more effectively”.

The EU’s action plan looks at ways to prevent incidents by “strengthen[ing] the sector’s capacities”, better equip hospitals with detection tools and “improve response and recovery” when attacks occur.

The EU is offering “financial assistance to put in place specific cybersecurity measures” through a voucher scheme.

In the next few years it also wants to design a training programme for healthcare professionals.