AsAcross the healthcare industry globally, medical diagnoses, patient care, and back-office administration are being digitized — driven by both the need for greater efficiency from a highly inefficient patchwork of systems, as well as by government mandate. With a range of other digital initiatives occurring on many levels, from intelligent devices and monitors to telemedicine, there are new IT-driven vistas opening for healthcare, providing physicians and other healthcare professionals with real-time access to patient data and appropriate therapies, as well as connecting patients directly to their clinicians and healthcare providers. Ultimately, digital transformation will lead to improved patient outcomes — a top priority for every healthcare organization.

The rise of digital healthcare makes robust cybersecurity in this area even more critical than in other industries, due to the extreme sensitivity of the data involved, combined with associated strict regulation intended to protect patient privacy. Healthcare systems and capabilities are expanding rapidly and becoming more and more distributed, which exposes larger attack surfaces which need protection. Central IT systems also need to be more secure on one hand, but paradoxically, easier to access by authorized personnel, using an expanding network of medical devices and end-user services. This specialist hardware also needs to be secured.