Business Continuity Management / Disaster Recovery , Governance & Risk Management , Healthcare

74% of Healthcare Governance Teams Vague on Cyber Resilience

Organizations - especially those in the healthcare sector - are struggling to differentiate between cybersecurity and cyber resilience, according to the LevelBlue Futures Report 2024. Survey participants said that cybersecurity is often siloed and misaligned with business objectives, and 62% of healthcare organizations said they considered cybersecurity as an afterthought while 66% reported insufficient funding.

See Also: Gartner Guide for Digital Forensics and Incident Response

In the survey, 74% of healthcare participants reported that their governance teams "don't know what cyber resilience is, and they can't differentiate it from cybersecurity," said Theresa Lanowitz, chief evangelist at LevelBlue. This creates a dangerous gap in organizational defenses, leaving healthcare organizations vulnerable to a wide range of threats, from ransomware attacks to data breaches, and potentially compromising patient safety and operational continuity.

To address these challenges, Lanowitz underscored the need for healthcare organizations to align their cybersecurity strategies with business initiatives and foster cross-functional collaboration. Security professionals must discuss cyber resilience with their leadership, evaluate preparedness for incidents such as natural disasters, and communicate the importance of considering clinical resilience in cybersecurity planning.

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group at the 2024 Healthcare Cybersecurity Summit, Lanowitz also discussed:

• How IoT devices and remote monitoring add complexity to healthcare cybersecurity;
• The challenges of digital transformation and data usage in healthcare;
• The role of cyber resilience in ensuring patient safety during IT outages.

Lanowitz is responsible for promoting LevelBlue's vision and services and engaging with clients to share insights on emerging cybersecurity trends. She is a thought leader in trends and emerging technology and has more than 30 years of experience. She previously worked as an industry analyst with Voke and Gartner.