In today’s growing cyber-attack landscape, hospital systems have quickly become the prime target of cyber threats as they collect sensitive patient data, including social security numbers, insurance information, and health records—making such an attack particularly appealing to bad actors.
The impact of these attacks on healthcare organizations has resulted in disrupted operations, delayed patient care, compromised patient confidentiality, and significant financial losses. The impact of financial costs can be anywhere from millions to billions a day, according to data from AHA. To mitigate these risks, healthcare organizations must remain proactive about cybersecurity hygiene. Implementing regular software updates, hosting employee training on recognizing phishing attempts, and maintaining secure backups of critical data will continue to play a major role in protecting the overall healthcare ecosystem. But what other proactive strategies or cyber tools might we be lacking?
Until 2023, 2015 was the worst year in history for breached healthcare records, with more than 112 million records exposed—signifying why much more must be done to close the healthcare IoT gap. While many IT security leaders are making strides to shield their organization’s security ecosystem, identity management strategies will be the leading force for keeping patient data intact and fully protected.
Adopting a Proactive Approach to Cybersecurity
Recent HIPAA data reported that in 2018, healthcare data breaches involving 500 or more records were reported at a rate of around 1 per day. Fast-forward five years, and the rate has more than doubled. In 2023, an average of 1.99 healthcare data breaches involving 500 or more records were reported each day, and on average, 364,571 healthcare records were breached every day.
Historically, one of the best steps IT leaders have taken to evolve cybersecurity practices is bringing multi-factor authentication (MFA) into the mix. The banking sector has been leading the charge on MFA for quite some time, and its success rate in mitigating threats to its online systems is noticeable. While MFA isn’t a new concept, it’s important to realize its value and how it has advanced over the years. It’s surprising how many people aren’t implementing MFA into their tech stack in 2024—despite its progress and the ROI it has for organizations. However, as more IT leaders look to adopt newer and unique strategies for protecting their data ecosystem, the healthcare industry will more than likely be bringing MFA to light now more than ever.
While MFA provides peace of mind with an extra layer of cybersecurity, it’s not the only solution. Following the “best practices” of Cybersecure Architecture by Design (CAD) is important to protect an organization from cyberattacks. CAD provides proactive technology controls—including identity management, data security, vulnerability & patch management, network segregation, risk & compliance, and end-point protection to create a robust cybersecurity posture that minimizes risk exposure.
By adopting a proactive approach that integrates cybersecurity into every aspect of an organization’s operations, the healthcare industry can better protect patient data, mitigate the impact of breaches, and preserve trust in an increasingly digital healthcare environment. If this tells us anything, it’s more critical than ever to lead with identity management tools for protecting our healthcare system in today’s tech and business climate.
Using CFCs as a Strategic Partner to Protect Patient Data
In the ongoing battle against cyber adversaries, another pivotal player that has emerged to protect healthcare data in the next phase of the cybersecurity evolution is Cybersecurity Fusion Centers (CFCs). With a rich history of evolution and adaptability, CFCs are a forward-looking concept that encapsulates traditional Security Operations Center (SOC) elements and advanced threat intelligence tools designed to address a spectrum of security challenges. This ensures a proactive, integrated, and risk-aware approach to safeguarding operations. With this seamless effort, formidable defenses against cyber threats in the healthcare sector can be nearly 100% guaranteed.
Organizations can leverage CFCs to produce real-time threat detection, improve intelligence sharing, and execute rapid incident response time. CFCs help pull innovation and security to the forefront of any core operation to eliminate the number of incoming threats. While most organizations already have the basic tools for monitoring who is accessing specific sites and how often, CFCs will be the ultimate game-changer for continuous evaluation efforts.
Not to mention, we live in a technology-first society, so we’ll continue to see CFCs leaning onto AI and ML to help manage bigger loads of sensitive data. We must embrace AI as it creates that “ringed fence” around security, further enabling healthcare providers to respond swiftly to potential breaches and minimize damage.
Lessons Learned: Preventing Future Attacks
Leaving patient data vulnerable to cyberattacks can become a life-or-death situation if leaders aren’t vigilant about taking proactive measures to keep healthcare ecosystems safe. It’s important to realize that security isn’t “fix it and forget it.” Needs within an organization constantly evolve, and as new cybersecurity needs are presented, it’s important to embrace new approaches for continuous monitoring.
Leaders should evaluate their organization’s cybersecurity architecture and data periodically, yearly at minimum, and continue to improve cybersecurity tactics to eliminate risk exposure and reduce the speed of any incoming risk. If healthcare leaders combine the right culture and technology, they can create a foolproof approach to executing a stable security-first organization.
Lastly, organizations must double down on data monitoring efforts as the adoption of AI and ML technologies is predicted to change the pace of operations rapidly. The first step in doing so is identifying legacy systems in the data ecosystem and where the vulnerabilities are to create a strategy for solving exposed data. It’s often said a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so marching towards solutions for keeping data scrubbed and intact will help to boost the user experience overall and embrace AI efforts further.
By learning from past incidents and implementing these lessons, healthcare providers can better protect themselves and their patients from cyber threats in the future.
About Vaibhav Srivastava
As the President of Healthcare, Insurance, and Life Sciences (HIL), Vaibhav Srivastava is responsible for defining and leading Innova Solutions’ HIL verticalization journey. With more than two decades of industry experience, he brings a proven track record and expertise in building vertical businesses to this role.
