Current Cyber Security in NHS Suppliers

Cyber security is a key risk for NHS Trusts and suppliers alike, and it is no co-incidence that the UK government have identified the urgent need to improve supplier cyber security – as a priority.

London – ‘26^th November 2019’ Leading threat intelligence and cyber risk company, Orpheus Cyber (Orpheus) today releases key findings of recent research into the current cyber security status for a cross-section of supplier companies to the NHS.

Key findings:

• 88% of companies had company emails together with associated employee passwords leaked due to attacks on third-party databases
• 37% of companies had vulnerabilities that look attractive to cybercriminals
• 17% of companies appeared to run databases that criminals could also target while 5% looked like potential ransomware targets
• Although 80% of companies have basic email protection, 95% lacked advanced measures

Orpheus has issued a whitepaper detailing the full findings and advice to support the NHS buying community in its efforts to reduce the overall level of cyber risk that it faces and to make the NHS more secure. Orpheus is able to provide individual NHS suppliers with a detailed understanding of their own specific threats and vulnerabilities. This will enable them to mitigate their risks thus improving overall supplier security and building public trust in the security of information in the healthcare sector.

Orpheus’ powerful and award-winning supply chain cyber risk technology has been integrated into The Edge4Health, the recently released platform by Virtualstock. The Edge4Health is a cloud-based platform delivering an effective solution connecting providers and NHS suppliers all over the UK to improve efficiency, drive savings and heighten compliance with streamlined processes. With the addition of Orpheus’ technology to The Edge4Health, NHS suppliers can now understand, improve and demonstrate their cyber security status to the NHS buying community. NHS Trusts can now also make risk based-procurement decisions in addition to saving time and money.

“For some time we have watched cyber attackers consistently target the supply chains of organisations they want to exploit. All too often this is because supplier companies are the weakest link in the chain, enabling attackers to gain a foothold with much greater ease than they otherwise would. At the same time cyber attacks are now increasingly focussed not just on stealing data, but disrupting companies and permanently deleting or encrypting it. It is unsurprising therefore that authorities and regulators more broadly are demanding that all types of organisation now look to secure their supply chains. The partnership of Orpheus’ and Virtualstock’s groundbreaking technologies is a significant step to enable the NHS to do just that. Orpheus is the only UK-government accredited cyber threat intelligence company, providing supply chain cyber risk rating services, so we feel best placed to be a part of this initiative responding to the important priority to reduce the risk of cyber attacks to the NHS buying community.”

Oliver Church, CEO, Orpheus

“Virtualstock’s platform is used extensively in retail and has been enhanced to address essential efficiencies in the health sector. This retail knowledge enables us to deliver best practices, such as Orpheus Cyber, through The Edge4Health. Changes to the threat landscape and regulatory environment are rapidly increasing the importance of securing supplier data across all industry verticals.”

Ed Bradley, Co-Founder at Virtualstock

To view the full whitepaper report, please click on the link here.

Press Enquiry Contacts:

Orpheus Cyber Nicky Godfrey Nicky.godfrey@orpheus-cyber.com 07815 515783

Virtualstock/The Edge4Health Ed Bradley ed.bradley@virtualstock.com 07973 368955