Cybersecurity
Digital Health and AI
Definition. Cybersecurity in health care is the protection of information systems, connected devices and data against unauthorised access, disruption and attack.
Explanation
Hospitals are frequent targets of ransomware because downtime directly threatens care. Human behaviour is a major factor: cyber hygiene practices among staff, including those working remotely, strongly affect risk (Karayel et al., 2025). Connected medical devices and the Internet of Things widen the attack surface, and digital twin approaches have been proposed to detect threats (Wakili et al., 2025).
Cybersecurity is now a patient safety issue. Organisations need incident plans, staff training, segmentation of clinical networks and regular testing.
Related concepts
Data governance Human factors Digital twin Health information system Patient safety culture
Read on The Health Topics
- Remote Work Cyber Hygiene: Human Factors in Security
- Digital Twins in Healthcare:The Technology That Wants to Clone You – Virtually
References
Karayel, T., Aktaş, B., & Akbıyık, A. (2025). Human factors in remote work: examining cyber hygiene practices. Information & Computer Security, 33 (1), 96-116.
Wakili, A., Bakkali, S., & Ibrahim, I. A. (2025). A digital twin-enhanced cybersecurity framework for IoT in healthcare. Telematics and Informatics Reports, 18, 100254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teler.2025.100254
Cite this entry: Kurutkan, M. N. (2026). Cybersecurity. In The Health Topics glossary. https://healthtopic.org/glossary/cybersecurity/