10 Insights from Cybersecurity Benchmarking Studies

• Cybersecurity benchmarking helps healthcare organizations find weaknesses, compare with peers, and improve security strategies.
• Key challenges include safeguarding patient data, securing medical devices, and managing risks from third-party vendors.
• Recent studies reveal five key insights:
  1. Spotting vulnerabilities with benchmarking tools.
  2. Learning from peers to identify investment gaps.
  3. Using better metrics to measure security readiness.
  4. Leveraging AI for accurate security assessments.
  5. Collaborating to boost industry-wide security standards.
• Tools like Censinet RiskOps™ simplify risk assessments, protect patient data, and streamline vendor management.

Customer Conversations: The Healthcare Cybersecurity ...

5 Key Findings from Security Studies

Recent studies have highlighted new insights into cybersecurity challenges and strategies:

1. Identifying Security Weaknesses

Benchmarking tools help uncover system vulnerabilities and ensure consistent monitoring to address potential risks.

2. Learning from Industry Peers

Comparing cybersecurity efforts with peers uncovers investment gaps and helps organizations focus on the most critical areas for improvement.

3. Improved Security Metrics

Advanced metrics provide a clearer picture of a healthcare organization's cybersecurity standing, helping to identify specific weaknesses compared to industry benchmarks.

4. AI's Role in Security

AI tools are making security assessments more accurate, improving evaluations and helping organizations build stronger governance structures.

5. Strengthening Through Collaboration

Collaborative efforts among healthcare organizations promote secure data sharing, raising the overall security standards across the industry.

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Censinet's Benchmarking Tools

Censinet RiskOps™ provides cloud-based solutions tailored to tackle the cybersecurity challenges uncovered in recent studies. Healthcare organizations face distinct security needs, and these tools are designed to meet those demands, aligning with the findings to strengthen cybersecurity efforts in healthcare.

Censinet RiskOps™ Features

This platform helps healthcare organizations assess their cybersecurity readiness with automated workflows. Here are its key features:

• Automated Risk Assessment: Streamlines evaluations of IT cybersecurity, third-party vendor risks, and supply chain vulnerabilities.
• Identifies Security Weaknesses: Detects areas where cybersecurity programs may fall short.
• Facilitates Secure Data Sharing: Connects healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) and vendors to exchange risk information efficiently.
• Tracks Performance: Measures progress against Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) Cybersecurity Performance Goals (CPGs).

Healthcare Organization Results

Healthcare providers using Censinet's tools have reported noticeable improvements in their security workflows, addressing vulnerabilities highlighted in recent studies. For example, Baptist Health saw a transformation in their risk management processes.

"We looked at many different solutions, and we chose Censinet because it was the only solution that enabled our team to significantly scale up the number of vendors we could assess, and shorten the time it took to assess each vendor, without having to hire more people." - Will Ogle, Nordic Consulting ^[1]

Censinet's platform supports multiple critical areas, including protecting patient data, securing medical records, ensuring research and IRB compliance, safeguarding medical devices, and managing supply chain risks. These tools help healthcare organizations maintain strong security practices while simplifying assessments and meeting industry regulations. The results show how well-targeted benchmarking tools can effectively address the vulnerabilities identified in recent studies.

Summary

Key Insights

Recent studies on cybersecurity benchmarking reveal important takeaways for healthcare organizations aiming to improve their security strategies. These studies show that systematic benchmarking helps pinpoint gaps in cybersecurity programs and highlights areas where investments are needed ^[1].

Organizations like Intermountain Health have used benchmarking to gain a clearer picture of their cybersecurity spending and resource use ^[1]. Similarly, Baptist Health has benefited from automated risk assessment tools, which have streamlined their security operations and improved management of third-party and supply chain risks ^[1].

These examples underscore the value of using data-driven methods and automated tools to handle cybersecurity challenges in healthcare. By leveraging these approaches, leading organizations have improved both their security frameworks and operational efficiency.

Priorities for Future Benchmarking

To build on these findings, healthcare organizations should focus on refining their cybersecurity strategies. Key areas for development include:

• Program Development: Regularly evaluating and improving cybersecurity programs to ensure they stay effective.
• Risk Assessments: Simplifying processes for managing enterprise and third-party risks to safeguard patient safety.
• Resource Allocation: Making sure cybersecurity investments and resources are used efficiently.
• Data Protection: Strengthening defenses for patient data and healthcare operations.

The future of cybersecurity benchmarking in healthcare lies in adopting more automated and integrated systems. These tools will help organizations quickly address vulnerabilities, stay compliant with industry standards, and better protect both patient data and critical care operations while making the most of their security budgets.