BSI Issues Cybersecurity Guide to Protect Patient Data in Indian Hospitals

These international frameworks aim to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of personal health information in increasingly digitized healthcare environments.

With nearly 7,000 cyberattacks targeting India’s healthcare sector each week, stronger data protection has become urgent. 

Responding to this growing threat, the British Standards Institution (BSI) has released a new guide, The Little Book of Personal Health Information (PHI), focused on helping healthcare providers protect patient data.

The guide offers practical strategies for implementing the ISO/IEC 27000 series and ISO 27799 standards. 

These international frameworks aim to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of personal health information in increasingly digitized healthcare environments.

Rising Investments in Cyber Defense

As the sector prepares to bolster its cyber resilience, a recent trend shows that 93% of Indian healthcare leaders plan to increase cybersecurity budgets in 2024. BSI’s guide aligns with this shift, providing healthcare entities a framework to fortify their digital infrastructure against evolving cyber threats.

Highlighting the urgency, Angus Metcalfe, Managing Director of Global Healthcare at BSI, said, “Across key global markets, there is a noticeable uptick in healthcare data protection legislation and evolving AI regulations. In essence, the interplay of the ISO/IEC 27000 series is not merely a collection of standards but a synchronized mechanism delivering a more resilient future for PHI management. As the terrain of global health data protection evolves, these standards remain pivotal, shaping how healthcare entities build and maintain trustworthy digital fortresses around the sensitive data they are purposed to protect.”

BSI emphasizes that applying these standards is not only about risk mitigation but also about strengthening patient trust.