From the January/February 2022 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
By Mathieu Gorge
Security is a journey, not a destination. These six words should resonate off the walls of every board room and leadership discussion. The meaning behind this is that security needs to be an evolving state of mind as technology expands and cyber criminals develop new tactics and procedures. The healthcare industry is no stranger to cyber-attacks, including ransomware and various other data breaches. Patient data is highly sensitive and a prime focus for cyber criminals across the world, and protecting this data needs to be a focus of all healthcare workers from nurses to project managers and executives.
Importance of cybersecurity
The buzz around cybersecurity has certainly grown over the last few years. With the increase of ransomware attacks coupled with the onset of the pandemic, cyber criminals have never been busier. Hospitals and other healthcare institutions have felt the brunt of these attacks over the last few months with an increasing number of cyber-attacks geared towards the healthcare industry. The importance of cybersecurity has become a prevalent topic amongst leadership because it’s come to the realization that educating employees at all levels has had a positive impact on reducing cyber-attacks and data breaches. In the cybersecurity industry, it’s a known idiom that the weakest link in the security chain is the human. This means that most attacks begin by harvesting a user’s credentials, getting them to click on a malicious link, or by some other means. In all these scenarios, it’s the end user, the human, the healthcare worker who is taken advantage of. Therefore, it is important to give employees the cybersecurity knowledge they need to protect themselves, for it may help them protect the organization and even the patients they care for.
Cost-effectively keeping up with change
Implementing cybersecurity solutions can be a costly process, which is one of the reasons why leadership teams avoid such discussions. The idea that “it won’t happen to us” seems to be enough to ward off any concerns of a cyber-attack, but this false sense of security can spell trouble for many organizations, especially those in the healthcare industry. Finding a cost-effective solution can ease the burden of this discussion, and implementing a solution that helps save money, ease compliance regulations, and enhance the organization’s overall security posture can have a positive effect on the future of the company.
