In these trying times of COVID-19, the cancellation of elective procedures and the general population "avoiding the Doctors Office like the Plague", it's no wonder that hospitals and other HDOs are furloughing staff and tightening their belts. But what does this mean for hospital cybersecurity programs?
The impact of COVID-19 on the healthcare industry has been perhaps been even more dramatic than the transportation and tourism industry, with airlines and hotels going bankrupt all over the world. Both industries have suffered a massive downturn in their traditional business and both have had to quickly pivot to the new reality of conducting business during a global pandemic. But unlike travel and tourism, healthcare has been in the forefront of a treating those infected with the SARS-CoV-2 and dealing with massive levels of disease control, while minimizing those on-site.
At the same time the delivery model for healthcare has drastically changed from on of principally elective procedures and screenings to a model where 90% of business, outside of ICU services for COVID-19 patients, is now conducted remotely via telehealth. In fact, healthcare is widely considered to have undergone the greatest single digital transformation of all time and all within the space of a few weeks, while most IT and security staff were forced to work off-site.
The impact of COVID-19 on the healthcare industry has been perhaps been even more dramatic than the transportation and tourism industry, with airlines and hotels going bankrupt all over the world. Both industries have suffered a massive downturn in their traditional business and both have had to quickly pivot to the new reality of conducting business during a global pandemic. But unlike travel and tourism, healthcare has been in the forefront of a treating those infected with the SARS-CoV-2 and dealing with massive levels of disease control, while minimizing those on-site.
At the same time the delivery model for healthcare has drastically changed from on of principally elective procedures and screenings to a model where 90% of business, outside of ICU services for COVID-19 patients, is now conducted remotely via telehealth. In fact, healthcare is widely considered to have undergone the greatest single digital transformation of all time and all within the space of a few weeks, while most IT and security staff were forced to work off-site.
We are condemned to live in interesting times
Cyber-criminals know this too and have plied their craft without let-up since early March with a proliferation of spear phishing campaigns targeting often overworked healthcare staff, many of whom are now working alone from home.
But these are far from the only challenges facing the industry and those whose job it is to secure the systems, data and patient safety so vital to the delivery of healthcare services. Hear from four leaders in the healthcare security and technology space as they discuss the issues facing the sector and offer up some options and effective approaches
- Richard Staynings, Chief Security Strategist at Cylera
- Christian AbouJaoude, CTO at USC Keck School of Medicine.
- Esmond Kane, CISO at Steward Health
- Brett Cattell, Director of Systems at Robin Healthcare
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