Recent cybersecurity events triggered the loss of patient, financial or organizational data for about 1 in 5 healthcare organizations, a new survey reveals.
Also, many healthcare leaders and information officers feel overwhelmed by the threats to their data. The 2015 HIMSS Cybersecurity Survey shows 42% of 297 respondents believe there are too many emerging and new threats to track.
“The recent breaches in the healthcare industry have been a wake-up call that patient and other data are valuable targets and healthcare organizations need a laser focus on cybersecurity threats,” says Lisa Gallagher, HIMSS Vice President of Technology Solutions.
Notable Findings
* Healthcare organizations use an average of 11 different technologies to secure their environment
* 80% rely on network monitoring to detect and investigate data security events
* 64% feel a lack of cybersecurity personnel is a barrier to addressing future events (although more than half have hired full-time cybersecurity personnel, a majority feels even that may be insufficient)
Despite a majority making improvements to network security, disaster recovery, and data loss protection, most respondents reported only an “average level of confidence” in their organization’s capabilities for protecting data and IT infrastructure.
Possible High-Level Solution
Given these findings, outsourcing your patient data security strategy to a cloud-based vendor might make sense. As Rich Quick wrote in a TWN post on how and why enterprises should get over their fear of the cloud: “Arguably the biggest security risk in any infrastructure is overlooking serious security flaws because of time, expertise and resources.”
Unsure about the security advantages of the cloud? Get the new white paper “How Cloud Security Can Protect Patient Data for Medical Groups.”
