Publication:
How COVID-19 has Exposed Cyber Risks in the Health Sector: Why a Paradigm Shift is Needed for Building Cybersecurity Resilience

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (2.55 MB)
788 downloads
English Text (45.84 KB)
58 downloads
Date
2020-07
ISSN
Published
2020-07
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Cyberattacks targeting public health and the health sector have increased significantly since the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020, resulting in disruption to the operations of domestic healthcare systems and services, theft of medical records, and significant financial losses, elevating the need to bring cybersecurity to the forefront of the development agenda. A broad conceptualization of cybersecurity to include elements of malicious information campaigns will help facilitate a focus and better management of this rapidly developing phenomenon. This brief focuses on how Coronavirus (COVID-19) has exposed cyber risks in the health sector, and why a paradigm shift is needed for building cybersecurity resilience.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank. 2020. How COVID-19 has Exposed Cyber Risks in the Health Sector: Why a Paradigm Shift is Needed for Building Cybersecurity Resilience. Analytical Insight;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35147 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    ICT Sector Policy Note for Panama : Enabling Inclusive Development through Information and Communications Technologies
    (2014-08-06) World Bank
    The Government of Panama and the private sector recognize the importance of information and communications technology (ICT) as an enabler of national development. This ICT sector policy note seeks to identify opportunities and challenges for growth of the ICT sector in Panama, particularly on rural access to broadband services and on cybersecurity, and potential for spillover impacts across other sectors. It provides a brief overview of the ICT sector in Panama and outlines a series of strategic actions and recommendations aimed at leveraging ICT as an engine of growth by targeting connectivity infrastructure, policies, regulation, e-Services, public data, and skills. The report is organized as follows: section one presents ICT sector in the economy. Section two deals with offer for connectivity. Section three presents demand. Section four describes the sector status from the cybersecurity point of view. Based on these analyses, section five identifies challenges that are hindering the growth of the industry, and section six presents policy options to overcome them. Finally, the World Bank describes the ways it can support those policy options in section seven and presents a set of joint activities in section eight.
  • Publication
    ICT for Greater Development Impact
    (Washington, DC, 2012-06-15) World Bank
    Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have great promise to reduce poverty, increase productivity, boost economic growth, and improve accountability and governance. That promise only grew when ICTs underwent a revolution in the 2000s. Nearly 5 billion people in developing countries now use mobile phones, up from 200 million at the last decade's start, and the number of Internet users has risen 10-fold. People across the globe do much more than chat and play games. They learn where best to fish and what market to sell their produce in. They trace cattle from pastures to supermarkets. They report illegal logging and misuses of local budget. They pay bills, send money back home, and receive cash transfers. They do business on mobile phones. They use ICTs to prevent violence against women and community radio to empower them. They get state-of-the-art schooling online. They remotely monitor and switch on irrigation pumps. The World Bank Group (WBG) has worked with its clients as they have pursued these opportunities and has supported sector reforms through technical assistance and lending operations, guided by its 2001 ICT strategy. The WBG has been most successful in fostering ICT sector reform and attracting private investment in mobile communications. WBG support for ICT applications has grown rapidly over the past decade. More than 1,300 active Bank investment projects have ICT components (74 percent of the Bank's 1,700-project portfolio) to modernize internal processes and upgrade service delivery. Results have been mixed, with only 59 percent of Bank project components for ICT applications achieving or likely to achieve their objectives fully or substantially.
  • Publication
    Combatting Cybercrime
    (Washington, DC: World Bank and United Nations, 2017-08) World Bank; United Nations
    Advances in technologies over the last 20 years have affected virtually every aspect of the waywe live and conduct our daily lives. While these technologies have been a source of good and enabled social and economic progress around the world, hardly a day goes by without news of yet another cyberattack, or the use of technology in the commission of crime. Here, at the World Bank, we know that in order for technologies, including the internet, to continue to be used as a force for economic growth and development, measures must be taken to ensure the security of the internet and the data and communications that flow over it. This Toolkit, Combating Cybercrime: Tools and Capacity Building for Emerging Economies, aims at building capacity to combat cybercrime among policy-makers, legislators, public prosecutors and investigators, as well as among individuals and in civil society at large in developing countries by providing a synthesis of good practices in the policy, legal and criminal-justice aspects of the enabling environment necessary to combat cybercrime.
  • Publication
    Electronic Security : Risk Mitigation in Financial Transactions - Public Policy Issues
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-07) Glaessner, Thomas; Kellermann, Tom; McNevin, Valerie
    This paper builds on a previous series of papers (see Claessens, Glaessner, and Klingebiel, 2001, 2002) that identified electronic security as a key component to the delivery of electronic finance benefits. This paper and its technical annexes (available separately at http://www1.worldbank.org/finance/) identify and discuss seven key pillars necessary to fostering a secure electronic environment. Hence, it is intended for those formulating broad policies in the area of electronic security and those working with financial services providers (for example, executives and management). The detailed annexes of this paper are especially relevant for chief information and security officers responsible for establishing layered security. First, this paper provides definitions of electronic finance and electronic security and explains why these issues deserve attention. Next, it presents a picture of the burgeoning global electronic security industry. Then it develops a risk-management framework for understanding the risks and tradeoffs inherent in the electronic security infrastructure. It also provides examples of tradeoffs that may arise with respect to technological innovation, privacy, quality of service, and security in designing an electronic security policy framework. Finally, it outlines issues in seven interrelated areas that often need attention in building an adequate electronic security infrastructure. These are: 1) The legal framework and enforcement. 2) Electronic security of payment systems. 3) Supervision and prevention challenges. 4) The role of private insurance as an essential monitoring mechanism. 5) Certification, standards, and the role of the public and private sectors. 6) Improving the accuracy of information on electronic security incidents and creating better arrangements for sharing this information. 7) Improving overall education on these issues as a key to enhancing prevention.
  • Publication
    Digital Identity Toolkit : A Guide for Stakeholders in Africa
    (Washington, DC, 2014-06) World Bank Group
    Digital identity, or electronic identity (eID), offers developing nations a unique opportunity to accelerate the pace of their national progress. It changes the way services are delivered, helps grow a country's digital economy, and supports effective safety nets for disadvantaged and impoverished populations. Though digital identity is an opportunity, it raises important considerations with respect to privacy, cost, capacity, and long-term viability. This report provides a strategic view of the role of identification in a country's national development, as well as a tactical view of the building blocks and policy choices needed for setting up eID in a developing country. The report presents a conceptual overview of digital identity management practices, providing a set of guidelines at a national level that policymakers can find helpful as they begin to think about modernizing the identity infrastructure of their country into eID. The report also provides an operating knowledge of the terminology and concepts used in identity management and an exposition of the functional blocks that must be in place. Policy considerations are referenced at the end of the report that governments can use as they contemplate a digital identity program. Given its abridged nature, the report is intended to be insightful and detailed, though not exhaustive. Several important topics related to eID are noted though deserve further discussion, including: economic and financial analysis, the development and setup of a national civil register, and cross-border aspects of eID. The building blocks, as discussed, can help ensure that a secure, robust and reliable digital identity platform can serve the development needs of a country for the foreseeable future.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Argentina Country Climate and Development Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank Group
    The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.
  • Publication
    Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022
    (Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank
    The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.
  • Publication
    The Journey Ahead
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-31) Bossavie, Laurent; Garrote Sánchez, Daniel; Makovec, Mattia
    The Journey Ahead: Supporting Successful Migration in Europe and Central Asia provides an in-depth analysis of international migration in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and the implications for policy making. By identifying challenges and opportunities associated with migration in the region, it aims to inform a more nuanced, evidencebased debate on the costs and benefits of cross-border mobility. Using data-driven insights and new analysis, the report shows that migration has been an engine of prosperity and has helped address some of ECA’s demographic and socioeconomic disparities. Yet, migration’s full economic potential remains untapped. The report identifies multiple barriers keeping migration from achieving its full potential. Crucially, it argues that policies in both origin and destination countries can help maximize the development impacts of migration and effectively manage the economic, social, and political costs. Drawing from a wide range of literature, country experiences, and novel analysis, The Journey Ahead presents actionable policy options to enhance the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries and migrants themselves. Some measures can be taken unilaterally by countries, whereas others require close bilateral or regional coordination. The recommendations are tailored to different types of migration— forced displacement as well as high-skilled and low-skilled economic migration—and from the perspectives of both sending and receiving countries. This report serves as a comprehensive resource for governments, development partners, and other stakeholders throughout Europe and Central Asia, where the richness and diversity of migration experiences provide valuable insights for policy makers in other regions of the world.
  • Publication
    Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21) Luna-Bazaldua, Diego; Levin, Victoria; Liberman, Julia; Gala, Priyal Mukesh
    This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2006
    (Washington, DC, 2005) World Bank
    This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.