December 14, 2015
The most secure organizations are ones where there is a culture of security that is embedded top-down, where every employee, from the board to the mail room, understands their role in protecting corporate data, with tools that both support, enable and protect data wherever it resides. We've seen various studies this year quantify the importance of top-down prioritization of data security, with indications that the top-performing organizations in terms of IT security are those with strong board and executive engagement on the topic.
With more CIOs leading the way in understanding and driving data security as an important business issue, these leaders bring forth key insights on the emerging trends in data security. Impact Advisors and the Scottsdale Institute (SI) recently released a report containing the insights of eight healthcare CIOS, looking specifically to the future challenges in securing data in the healthcare industry.
The New World of the Health System CIO: Consumers, Consolidation and Crooksanalyzed many topics in healthcare, security among them. The consensus among the group was that “health systems are behind where they should be in terms of security,” which is reflected by the continued data breach attacks we see in healthcare. Each among the group recognized that breaches are “expected to occur,” but that good support at the senior leadership level is critical for success in creating solutions both to prevent breaches as well as to respond to them.
In order to be successful, CEOs will need to be much more involved as will Board and audit and compliance committees. The Board may need to be educated and have an advanced understanding of the issues surrounding health data security. CEOs need to understand there may be much more expense involved with managing security than they have traditionally budgeted and in addition there may be more difficult change management leadership needed at the executive level.
The report discusses many insights from these CIOs on current risks to data security, which include things like biomedical devices as well as employees, who either willfully or negligently put data at risk. The report, as summarized in an interview on Health IT Security, re-iterates that, from implementing technology to setting employee training programs, executive leadership can help drive forward effective change.
Absolute DDS for Healthcare is a critical part of an effective layered security model, providing lifecycle security, risk assessment and risk response to help organizations prevent costly data breaches. With Absolute DDS, it’s all about the connection. By maintaining a two-way connection with each device, you have the insight you need to assess risk and apply remote security measures so you can protect each endpoint and the sensitive data it contains. Learn more about Absolute's security solutions for healthcare here.
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