Any notion that the healthcare industry might be safe from cybersecurity attacks evaporated last May with the WannaCry ransomware attack. Victims of that cyberattack included Canada’s Lakeridge Health, individual hospitals in Slovakia and Indonesia, and Britain’s National Health Service. Like many of the other organizations that were hit badly in the attack, these groups in the healthcare industry were left vulnerable largely as a result of outdated software and operating systems, and unpatched servers.

It’s probably fair to say that the WannaCry attack was a stark wake-up call for many in the healthcare industry, but for people working in cybersecurity, it was an accident just waiting to happen. The question is: will healthcare organizations now going to act to reduce the risk of another cyberattack? Here are a few considerations that we believe security and IT professionals in the healthcare industryshould be thinking about.

1. Digital transformation– Many parts of the healthcare industry have been long overdue a digital revamp. This can’t be approached haphazardly, so a robust digital transformation plan is a must. This should be developed with a keen eye on your overall business strategy and operational needs.
2. Integration and support– If you are sourcing new software solutions, perhaps some medical billing software, for example, be mindful of integration and support. You want to know in advance that the solution is compatible with your systems, and be sure that you get the right contracts in place to provide robust support should anything go wrong.
3. Retire unsupported systems– Many organizations in the healthcare industry are running equipment with obsolete operating systems that are no longer supported by the vendor. In terms of cybersecurity, that’s just asking for trouble. Make robust and sensible plans with timelines for decommissioning obsolete systems.

At TH2 Technologies we provide outsourced IT service support for organizations in a wide variety of industries. If your organization is in the healthcare industry and want to be as secure as possible from the threat of a future cyberattack, contact us today to discuss how we can help.