ArticleBMC medical informatics and decision making2019
The state of research on cyberattacks against hospitals and available best practice recommendations: a scoping review.
Article in BMC medical informatics and decision making, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Unveiling Patient-Level Harms and At-Risk Clinical Groups During Hospital Cyberattacks: Systematic Review of Global Case Studies and Social Media Data.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Vulnerability to Cyberattacks and Sociotechnical Solutions for Health Care Systems: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Blockchain Integration With Digital Technology and the Future of Health Care Ecosystems: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Pooled it
- Cybersecurity as it relates to perfusion.The journal of extra-corporeal technology · 2026Article
- Cyberwarfare Beyond the Hospital: Emergency Medical Services as a Critical Infrastructure Vulnerability.Open access emergency medicine : OAEM · 2026Article
- Sociotechnical Cybersecurity Framework for Securing Health Care From Vulnerabilities and Cyberattacks: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- The Role of the Organization in Promoting Information Security-Related Behavior Among Resident Physicians in Hospitals in Germany: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Design and Pilot Study of a High-Fidelity Medical Simulation of a Hospital-Wide Cybersecurity Attack.Research square · 2024Article
- [Cybersecurity and use of ICT in the health sector].Atencion primaria · 2024Article
- A resilient workforce: patient safety and the workforce response to a cyber-attack on the ICT systems of the national health service in Ireland.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Threat Assessment and Risk Analysis (TARA) for Interoperable Medical Devices in the Operating Room Inspired by the Automotive Industry.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The role of messaging services in day-to-day practice in pediatric neurosurgery, advantages of a bubble network, and an international survey.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2023Article
- Integrated Blockchain-Deep Learning Approach for Analyzing the Electronic Health Records Recommender System.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- When disasters strike the emergency department: a case series and narrative review.International journal of emergency medicine · 2021Review
- Advocacy of cyber public health.Global health & medicine · 2021Article
- Health Care Cybersecurity Challenges and Solutions Under the Climate of COVID-19: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Article
- Young People's Use of Digital Health Technologies in the Global North: Narrative Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Review
- Artificial intelligence in medicine and the disclosure of risks.AI & society · 2021Article
- Cybersecurity in PACS and Medical Imaging: an Overview.Journal of digital imaging · 2020Review
- Cybersecurity of Hospitals: discussing the challenges and working towards mitigating the risks.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe health sector has quickly become a target for cyberattacks. Hospitals are especially sensitive to these sorts of attacks as any disruption in operations or even disclosure of patient personal information can have far-reaching consequences. The objective of this study was to map the available literature on cyberattacks on hospitals and to identify the different domains of research, while extracting the recommendations and guidelines put forth in the literature.
methodsFour databases (PubMed, Web of Science, ProQuest, and Scopus) were searched using standardized and adapted search syntax in order to identify relevant manuscripts published between 1997 and 2017. These were screened by two reviewers and included or excluded based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data from articles were then extracted and analyzed.
resultsThe search identified 818 records of which 97 were included. Of the 97, 32% were published in 2017 while around 40% of the articles were published prior to the last three years. Six domains of research emerged through the analysis, which are included here: context and trends in cybersecurity (27.8%), connected medical devices and equipment (29.9%), hospital information systems (14.4%), raising awareness and lessons learned (6.2%), information security methodology (15.4%), and specific types of attacks (6.2%).
conclusionThere is a generally growing interest in the research field, but the available literature remains limited in number. There are important aspects of cybersecurity (e.g. cloud storage and access management) as well as specific medical fields that rely on various medical devices that have been neglected. Recommendations are available, but comprehensive guidelines and standardized best practice measures are still necessary.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.