Every year, instances of cyberattacks rise. And yet, despite this mounting evidence, many professionals still view cybersecurity as optional-a privilege that would be nice to prioritize in an ideal world, but never seems to get its fair share of the manpower or budget. Truth be told, data breaches and hacks are costly, and assuming that it happens to other businesses but not yours is playing with financial fire. It's especially important to take cybersecurity in healthcare seriously, as outcomes can directly affect patients' care.
A recent poll from the Medical Group Management Association found that 47 percent of healthcare organizations use a mix of in-house and outsourced cybersecurity management. Just 31 percent of respondents answered that they completely manage their cybersecurity from within their organization. While this decision often boils down to cost (outsourcing tends to be cheaper outright than hiring/promoting), there are several advantages to handling your own cybersecurity. Here are three reasons to consider doing so.
Response Times Are Shorter
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention writes, \"Cybersecurity preparedness involves adequate planning and implementation of a response process, which includes continuous research on and incorporation of lessons learned from actual responses to cyber breaches or attacks and other public health emergencies, facilitated group discussion and simulated exercises and drills.\"
When it comes to preventing and minimizing the effects of cyberattacks, time is of the essence. Let's say your electronic system is infected with a piece of malware. It may take hours for an outside agency to discover the intruder, contact your organization, come up with a game plan and execute a response. There may be phone tag, email chains and in-person visits to wade through.
If your employees and IT staffers are trained on how to identify and mitigate cybersecurity threats, on the other hand, it has the potential to greatly streamline the process. Of course, a positive outcome means you must train key players ahead of time and have a chain of command in place for when the fateful day arrives.
It Promotes Staff Leadership
Many healthcare organizations outsource their cybersecurity efforts in pieces. While this may boost front-end convenience, it doesn't necessarily promote a comprehensive plan. Designating an in-house person (or team) to take leadership over cybersecurity provides a bird's eye view of what's happening over time. This enables your healthcare organization to make informed choices in how to proceed.
Communication/Transparency Improve
As Modern Healthcare reports, fewer than two-thirds of healthcare organizations discuss security at quarterly board meetings. This lack of transparency can trickle down: not only are key decision-makers out of the loop on cybersecurity, but front-line employees may be left out of the loop as well. Outsourcing security tasks can make it all too easy to treat cybersecurity as someone else's problem, not worth mentioning or talking about within company culture. In contrast, handling it in-house can promote healthy discussions and accountability at every level.
Sometimes outsourcing vs. handling cybersecurity in healthcare in-house is simply a matter of cost, and that's understandable. But when your financial well-being and reputation are at stake, it's worthwhile to conduct a cost-benefit analysis and see which resources you can allot to protecting your business against hackers from within your own walls.
Enrolling in cyber insurance is one cost-effective way to handle any cyberattacks that do occur. Get more information (and a custom quote) from CyberPolicy today!
