HealthCare and Cyber Security

How often do you see a health system dedicating a big portion of their budget in their security department?

In most cases, the amount of budget for security program is very limited in many health systems. Why is that? Why health systems focus less on their security when most of their data and operations run digitally on a complex computer system?

I still don’t get it and have no clear answer. I have seen many health systems spending millions in their infrastructure and patient care but couldn’t spare to improve their Cyber Security program and when it came to protect their data from hackers, they fell short. The lack of investment in security program is deadly and many health systems have realized it in 2020.

2020 has been year of many cyber attacks and the pandemic situation has brought more attacks across the globe. Health Systems have been hit the worst. In recent times, many health systems across the U.S have been hit by ransomware attacks. one such example is the attack on United Health system. UHS is one of the largest health care in the U.S and they had been a victim of a ransomware called “Ryuk”.

The Ryuk ransomware brought UHS’s computer system offline for days. Could they have prevented this attack if they had better cyber security program? May be yes or not. In either case, having a good Cyber Security program can prepare any health system for this kind of situations.

Budget constraint shouldn’t be an issue when developing a Cyber Security program for an organization. Management should understand and it’s the job of security guys like us to explain the cost/benefit analysis to leadership.

Having a good Cyber Security program will have positive outcome not only for an organization but also in the overall security industry.

Let me know what you guys think of Cyber Security in health systems?