Here’s why most healthcare leaders are focused on data security in 2023

Most healthcare organizations will be focused on data security and cybersecurity in 2023, according to the soon-to-be-published Enterprise Digital Health Transformation survey from HIMSS Market Intelligence.

For the rest of the year, 79% of healthcare organizations reported that they are most focused on data security/cybersecurity. This is particularly important to those in academic medical centers with 100% reporting cybersecurity as their primary concern, as opposed to 74% of those in any other worksite. Over the next two years, digital transformation organizational priorities are varied, with data security/cybersecurity, IT infrastructure, interoperability, and regulatory compliance mentioned most often.

Cybercriminals never stop

While healthcare organizations are investing heavily in network modernization to drive better patient outcomes and improve efficiencies, cybercriminals are investing time in new ways to breach these systems. 

An article in Health IT Security reports that: “The healthcare sector suffered about 337 breaches in the first half of 2022 alone, according to Fortified Health Security's mid-year report. More than 19 million records were implicated in healthcare data breaches in the first six months of the year.”

Recent threats to healthcare cybersecurity help to drive the point home that cybercriminals are constantly seeking to find cracks in the system to slither through and steal data.  A brief from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) explains tactics and exploitation techniques used by Royal ransomware and BlackCat ransomware, which cybercriminals have been using to aggressively target the US healthcare sector. HHS suggests some basic security tips which healthcare organizations can implement.

Healthcare improvements require more and more bandwidth

One reason for the focus on cybersecurity may be that most healthcare organizations are at varying stages in their digital transformation journey, and now have security concerns they simply didn’t have before. As healthcare continues its path to digital transformation, the attack surface for cybercriminals continues to expand. More devices connected and more data flowing exponentially increase the risk for those organizations that lack a comprehensive, modern, mitigation plan. 

Healthcare organizations require massive amounts of bandwidth with low latency connectivity.  This is due to an increase in usage for telehealth and remote care, wearable devices for remote patient monitoring, transmitting data to electronic records, wireless devices for facilities management and the Digital Front Door used to accommodate patient journey pre-facilities visit. With a view to cybersecurity, it must be considered that all this information is potentially exposed to the Internet, and therefore potentially a target for cyberattack.

Additionally, healthcare organizations are using autonomous robots to decontaminate rooms, symptom-checking chatbots, virtual reality for surgical training and a host of other bandwidth-intensive activities.  WANs now require a variety of connectivity options especially software defined data traffic over the Internet, access to multiple clouds, centralized orchestration and enhanced security. They need to adapt to an organization’s changing needs. Healthcare organizations are deploying new and evolved infrastructure to address higher bandwidth consumption and connectivity.

Network infrastructure should be able to securely connect to the Web, IaaS and SaaS cloud services, and other internet applications utilizing high-speed data services that can incrementally scale to 100Gbps as required. Infrastructure solutions exist today that provide the resiliency and diverse connectivity that healthcare organizations require, and the cybersecurity functionality the data requires.

Cybersecurity for healthcare organizations that never stops working

Fortunately, healthcare organizations can secure and modernize their networks with a single platform and partner. There are services available that offer security, WiFi and SD-WAN, powered by Cisco Meraki, for a simplified solution.  Spectrum Enterprise® can consultatively design, implement and help manage these solutions as an organization’s digital health needs evolve.

The Enterprise Network Edge solution provides next generation edge protection, malware protection, content filtering, web application control, intrusion protection and packet inspection of encrypted traffic. It also extends network protection to all locations in your healthcare system, with remote access encryption for all traffic.  Meanwhile, local technicians remain on call 24/7 to provide responsive support. The solution is built on the industry-leading Fortinet FortiGate and FortiCloud platforms.

Managed Practice Package solutions for smaller organizations

Clinicians and smaller healthcare clinics face the same security challenges that large hospitals and healthcare systems do but may not have the resources or IT staff necessary to properly secure their data, which includes the personally identifiable information (PII) their patients entrust to them. These smaller organizations can now equip their practice with connectivity and firewall solutions that enable fast, secure access to patient data and seamless communications. With the Managed Practice Package,  organizations of any size can secure a single- or multi‑site network with a scalable all‑in‑one healthcare-managed service that includes the equipment, connectivity, management and support they need.

Strengthen healthcare communications security

Healthcare organizations comprised of various clinics, labs, practices and hospitals with a geographically dispersed workforce face serious communications challenges. Now, they can consolidate all their communication and collaboration capabilities in a single application that’s accessible from anywhere. Delivered over an enterprise-grade, network like  Managed Network Edge,  Unified Communications with RingCentral helps healthcare operations facilitate worry-free hybrid work models, benefit from improved application performance for electronic medical records (EMRs) and more with a firewall that prevents data breaches.  Further, the solution can help protect patient data. The solution ensures HIPAA-supported interactions, HITRUST-certified communications and telehealth solutions while enabling time-saving automation for more personalized patient care improvement.

We can help simplify healthcare network management and cybersecurity.