5 Challenges in Healthcare Cyber Risk Management
Cyber threats in healthcare are growing rapidly, targeting patient data, medical devices, and supply chains. These attacks disrupt care, compromise privacy, and increase costs. Here’s a quick breakdown of the five biggest challenges healthcare organizations face and how to address them:
- Reactive Security: Waiting for attacks increases costs and risks. Shift to proactive, prevention-first strategies using automated tools and real-time monitoring.
- Evolving Threats: Cybercriminals target patient data, devices, and vendors. Use AI and continuous scanning to stay ahead.
- Vendor Risks: Third-party systems are vulnerable. Implement automated vendor assessments and real-time monitoring.
- Compliance Complexity: Managing HIPAA, ISO, and NIST requirements is overwhelming. Simplify with automated compliance platforms.
- Staff Shortages: Limited expertise delays security processes. Leverage automation to support small teams.
Ep#230 Healthcare and Cybersecurity from the Challenges to ...
Challenge 1: Moving Beyond Reactive Security
Relying on reactive security puts patient data and essential systems at risk of advanced cyberattacks.
Problems with Reactive Security
Waiting until an incident happens creates several challenges for organizations:
- Higher Recovery Costs: Fixing breaches after they occur is often much more expensive than taking preventive measures.
- Longer Downtime: Responding to incidents can extend system outages, disrupting operations.
- Risks to Patient Care: Delays in addressing security issues can compromise healthcare delivery and patient safety.
- Compliance Issues: Investigations after incidents often reveal gaps in meeting regulatory standards.
Shifting to Prevention-First Security
A prevention-first approach focuses on proactive risk management and real-time monitoring.
Take Baptist Health as an example. They revamped their cybersecurity by using automated risk management tools. Aaron Miri, Chief Digital Officer, shared:
"Censinet RiskOps enables us to automate and streamline our IT cybersecurity, third‑party vendor, and supply chain risk programs in one place. Censinet enables our remote teams to quickly and efficiently coordinate IT risk operations across our health system." [1]
An effective prevention-first strategy includes:
- Automated, cloud-based assessments for IT systems, vendors, and supply chains.
- Real-time risk data sharing between healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) and vendors.
- Scalable tools that adapt to changing budgets and resource needs.
Nordic Consulting also highlights the value of this approach. Will Ogle explained how their team scaled vendor assessments without adding staff:
"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." [1]
Staying ahead of evolving cyber threats is critical for protecting both patient safety and essential systems.
Challenge 2: Keeping Pace with New Threats
Expanding on a prevention-focused security approach, healthcare organizations face the challenge of responding to constantly changing cyber threats. These threats target everything from patient data to medical devices and supply chains. Below, we examine the emerging risks and the tools designed to address them.
Current Threat Landscape
Cybercriminals increasingly target the healthcare sector because of the high value of patient data and the critical nature of its systems. Threats arise across multiple areas, including:
- Patient data: Electronic health records contain sensitive personal and health information.
- Medical devices: Connected medical equipment opens up new vulnerabilities.
- Supply chains: Disruptions can jeopardize the delivery of essential drugs and devices.
- Research data: Protecting intellectual property is crucial for ongoing innovation.
- Third parties: Vendor relationships introduce additional risks.
To address these risks, many organizations rely on multi-layered detection and response strategies.
Erik Decker, CISO at Intermountain Health, highlights the importance of benchmarking tools in strengthening cybersecurity efforts:
"Censinet portfolio risk management and peer benchmarking capabilities provide additional insight into our organization's cybersecurity investments, resources, and overall program." - Erik Decker, CISO, Intermountain Health
Threat Detection and Response
Effective defense systems should include:
- Automated and continuous scanning across all systems to identify vulnerabilities.
- Shared threat intelligence with trusted partners to stay ahead of attackers.
- AI-powered tools for pattern recognition, vulnerability prediction, and automated risk assessments.
These measures help healthcare organizations stay ahead of evolving cyber threats while protecting their sensitive systems and data.
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Challenge 3: Vendor and Supply Chain Security
Once internal defenses are solid, it's crucial to address security risks tied to external partners. Healthcare organizations often rely on third-party vendors for essential services, which introduces new potential vulnerabilities that need constant attention.
The more vendors involved, the more opportunities attackers have to exploit. Some high-risk areas include:
- Clinical applications managing patient records
- Medical devices from different manufacturers
- Supply chain systems
- Research and Institutional Review Board (IRB) activities
- Patient data and protected health information (PHI)
If vendor vulnerabilities go unchecked, they can compromise an organization’s ability to detect and prevent threats effectively.
To manage these risks, a strong vendor and supply chain security program should include tools and processes that are both efficient and comprehensive. Key components include:
- Automated workflows for onboarding and periodic reviews
- Real-time monitoring to track vendor security postures
- Centralized dashboards for seamless coordination across teams
- Secure data exchange mechanisms with external partners
Challenge 4: Meeting Compliance Requirements
Healthcare organizations are under constant pressure to stay compliant with various regulatory frameworks while managing their daily operations. Balancing the demands of HIPAA, ISO/IEC 27001, and NIST CSF 2.0 requires unique controls, detailed documentation, and regular reporting. These overlapping responsibilities can overwhelm teams and disrupt workflows.
Managing Multiple Frameworks
Each framework comes with its own set of requirements, creating a complex web of obligations. Healthcare organizations must navigate compliance in several key areas:
- Patient Data Protection: Meeting HIPAA standards for safeguarding Protected Health Information (PHI).
- Information Security: Implementing ISO/IEC 27001 controls to secure sensitive data.
- Cybersecurity Standards: Adhering to NIST CSF 2.0 guidelines for robust cyber defenses.
- Third-Party Risk: Ensuring vendors meet compliance standards across these frameworks.
Manually tracking compliance across these areas not only increases the risk of audit failures but also slows down reporting processes.
Simplifying Compliance Efforts
Healthcare teams can leverage automation to reduce the complexity of managing compliance frameworks. By integrating automated tools into their processes, organizations can streamline compliance efforts and minimize human errors.
Modern compliance platforms offer features like:
- A secure cloud-based system for managing IT, vendor, and supply chain compliance in one place.
- AI-driven tools that provide continuous compliance monitoring and assessment.
- Peer benchmarking to evaluate and improve compliance program performance.
These tools help healthcare organizations stay on top of regulatory requirements while reducing the administrative burden on their teams.
Challenge 5: Limited Staff and Expertise
Even with improved compliance processes, understaffing creates security vulnerabilities. Ongoing staffing shortages and a lack of specialized skills weaken cybersecurity efforts in the complex world of healthcare IT. This can lead to delays in performing assessments, applying patches, and maintaining continuous monitoring.
These challenges also worsen issues like vendor risk and compliance delays:
- Delayed vendor assessments: Teams struggle to keep up with evaluating third-party risks.
- Postponed security updates: Critical patches may not be applied promptly.
- Limited monitoring: A shortage of personnel affects around-the-clock threat detection.
- Reduced training opportunities: Skill development often takes a backseat to urgent tasks.
Tools to Support Small Teams
To help smaller teams manage these challenges, automation and centralized platforms can significantly boost efficiency:
- Automated assessments using Censinet Connect™
- Tools for cybersecurity benchmarking
- Collaborative networks for risk management
- Automated workflows to speed up processes
- Command centers for risk visualization
Conclusion: Strengthening Risk Management in Healthcare
Integrated risk management platforms offer healthcare organizations the tools they need to tackle key cybersecurity challenges. By focusing on prevention-first security, real-time threat responses, vendor oversight, compliance automation, and staffing support, these platforms streamline processes through automation, collaboration, and continuous evaluation.
Censinet enhances this approach with its portfolio risk management and peer benchmarking tools, providing essential insights into cybersecurity investments and program performance.
Key platform features include:
- Automated workflows: Addressing reactive security challenges.
- Centralized risk dashboards: Enabling effective threat responses.
- Secure collaboration networks: Managing vendor-related risks.
- Integrated benchmarking tools: Simplifying compliance efforts.
- Scalable vendor assessments: Supporting staffing and resource needs.
