As connected care becomes more ubiquitous, cybersecurity becomes an increasingly formidable concern of the healthcare industry. With the growing use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), valuable patient data has become more vulnerable to cyber threats. Hence, while maintaining patient safety remains a top priority for medical practitioners, ensuring data security and integrity are also emerging as top challenges. The need of the hour inevitably is to deploy strong cyber hygiene that lays careful consideration of cybersecurity throughout every stage of the patient care delivery process. To effectively manage healthcare cybersecurity, it is critical to establish comprehensive strategies that safeguard both patient data and the seamless operation of healthcare technologies.

Apart from EHR implementations, numerous other interoperability initiatives continue to dominate the healthcare industry’s technology agendas. Owing to the increasingly connected landscape, practices need to foster operational efficiencies and constant patient care improvements, primarily through the use of technology. However, cybersecurity poses significant challenges in due process.

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The fundamental concern underpinning the increasing risk of cybersecurity in the healthcare industry is the lack of visibility and transparency into the functioning of medical devices. Questions like how are they connected to networks, where are these devices located, who is using them and how, and how each user poses a considerable threat to the system itself, all must be addressed in due regard. This then makes it next to impossible for even the most technologically advanced organizations to create and implement an effective security strategy because, well, you can’t manage something you can’t see.

The solution, then, is to create connected asset visibility that is comprehensive enough to include highly granular device-profiling details. Here is your cybersecurity prescription for healthy healthcare:

• Be Vigilant with Third-Party Partners – It often happens that the third parties breach their security contract to play the fool with your data. Hence, before allowing them access to your data, demand their latest audits, cyber-security certifications, and remediation plans. It’s sturdy and time-consuming, but it’s worth it.
• Deploy Two–Factor Identification – Although it is a simple task of deploying dual-factor authorization, the strategy can help you combat against phishing attacks and protect valuable EHR of your patients in a sophisticated manner. This approach tends to block almost all automated cyberattacks, thereby improving the security posture of your practice.
• Mind the Language – When you communicate across connected devices, make sure you use clinical language and not IT and security terms. Non-IT people have the innate tendency to ‘glaze over’ when you start tech-talking. This is when you might fall prey to cyber threats.
• Deploy the Zero Trust Security Model – Since internal rather than external threats cause the majority of healthcare security breaches, implementing a zero-trust approach might hit the bull’s eye. Introduce granular controls on network traffic so you can bar internal rogue users from leveraging attacks and gaining access to sensitive patient health information.
• Identify and Cover Blind Spots – Make sure that the information transmission and sharing between patients, providers, insurance agencies, and other stakeholders are seamless and secure. It has become imperative to identify and cover any blind spots in the data flows, especially as providers increasingly embrace network-connected medical devices, telehealth, and medical apps.
• Promote Cyber Awareness – As important as fostering a culture of cyber-wellness; it is equally crucial to promote cyber awareness. Adequate cybersecurity education and proper data privacy awareness must be imparted amongst the employees to help reduce your susceptibility to a diverse range of sophisticated cyberattacks. Running regular campaigns regarding cybersecurity scams, phishing attacks, malware and ransomware, and relevant mitigating techniques can help create the right cybersecurity culture at your practice. Additionally, setting up DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) protocol can further bolster email security and protect against phishing attempts. EasyDMARC provides intuitive tools to help organizations safeguard email communication, further reducing exposure to phishing and spoofing.

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It is a fact that technology innovations in healthcare, such as device connectivity, interoperability, and patient data management systems, are playing a unique role in improving acute care outcomes. However, these digital advancements are also presenting a perfect target for cybercriminals. The entire healthcare industry, therefore, needs to recognize and rise to the challenge to address the evolving landscape of cyber threats collectively.