If cybercrime were a country, which is estimated to inflict more than 6 trillion USD in damages globally by the end of 2021, it would be the world’s third-largest economy after the US and China.

It’s easy to forget that the globe is encircled by millions of miles of fiber optic cable literally connecting oceans and countries together. Backed by technologies and infrastructure like 4G, satellites, and data centers, this global interconnection serves as a single superhighway that everyone on the planet can share and consume together.

But that’s exactly it – we consume it together. It’s shared.

That means that just as you’re using the internet for innocuous, productive purposes, others are using it to extort, scam, and launch cyberattacks against innocent people and organizations. These malicious individuals are using the same fiber optic cables and data centers as we use when we do our online banking.

If the cybercrime market were a country, which is estimated to inflict more than 6 trillion USD of damages globally by the end of 2021, it would be the world’s third-largest economy after the US and China. Remember, this is the same internet we use to watch cat videos, talk to our loved ones, and do our most sensitive online transactions.

Yet, standing as an opposing force is COVID-19, which has propelled whole nations to embrace telehealth and telemedicine more vigorously than ever.

How can the immediate need to deliver healthcare online coexist on the same platform that fuels an illicit industry that is more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined?

We need to change our view of security. And we need to do it now.

By 2025, things will only get worse

Cybersecurity Ventures estimates that global cybercrime will have a 15% GAGR over the next 15 years. That means, year on year, it will engorge itself on the population of the world, bloating into a $10.5 trillion dollar monster by 2025. In 2015, this was only 3 trillion dollars.

This will be the largest transfer of economic wealth ever seen in human history.

But at the same time, more and more of us are connecting ourselves to this digital tapestry. Seismic shifts in terms of the Internet of Things, 5G, and edge computing will only propel more of our lives online. This includes when we’re sick, mentally unwell, or in dire need of specialist advice.

Telehealth today

Let’s step back for a moment though and understand what telehealth is all about. The International Organisation for Standardisation defines Telehealth as the “use of telecommunication techniques for the purpose of providing telemedicine, medical education, and health education over a distance”. It’s about moving voice, data, and knowledge to the patient, rather than moving the patient to specialists, health practitioners, or educators.

While it doesn’t mention it explicitly, this really means using the internet to convey the specialized knowledge and skill required to deliver health care to a patient.

It’s about moving voice, data, and knowledge to the patient, rather than moving the patient to specialists, health practitioners, and educators.

Now, more than ever, this is a vital service that is needed all around the world. With literally millions of people stuck indoors or locked behind quarantined borders, access to even general healthcare services has been globally restricted.

In Australia, telehealth services are being hungrily consumed by the public. Since March 2020, more than 30 million telehealth consultations were delivered that were Medicare eligible. It’s no doubt that telehealth will transform countries that adopt it, not only those restricted by COVID-19 but in remote or regional areas with limited access to specialist health care services.

But how does telehealth coexist on the same platform as a cybercrime? It starts with vendors, system integrators, and software agencies doing their part and taking cybersecurity seriously, adopting best practices, and working with experts to make sure their systems are well built and are protecting the confidentiality and integrity of their data. It’s vitally important that those seeking to develop or implement telehealth solutions view security as a necessity and not a nice-to-have.

This, in turn, will give telehealth apps a fighting chance to do what they do best: transform and improve the lives of individuals, regardless of where they are in the world.

Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash