On October 25th, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) organized a roundtable discussion focusing on the cybersecurity challenges confronting the U.S. healthcare and public health (HPH) sector. The discussion aimed to explore collaborative solutions between the government and industry to bridge gaps in resources and cyber capabilities within the sector.
Prior to the roundtable, CISA and HHS unveiled a comprehensive cybersecurity toolkit. This toolkit is specifically designed to cater to the unique needs of the healthcare and public health sectors, offering valuable resources to enhance cybersecurity measures.
"Adversaries see healthcare and public health organizations as high value yet relatively easy targets – or what we call target rich, cyber poor. Given that healthcare organizations have a combination of personally identifiable information, financial information, health records, and countless medical devices, they are essentially a one-stop shop for an adversary. For example, just in 2023, CISA conducted pre-ransomware notifications to over 65 U.S. healthcare organizations to stop ransomware encryption and warn entities of early-stage ransomware activity," said Deputy Director of CISA Nitin Natarajan. "We continue to work diligently with our partners at HHS and in the healthcare sector to secure our health organizations not only in the United States but across the globe through our collaboration tools. We are also focused on efforts to Secure Our World by educating the people, companies, and agencies how they can better secure themselves with cybersecurity.”
The associated risks have grown substantially in today's increasingly digital healthcare landscape, where patient and medical information storage, medical procedures, and patient communication rely heavily on digital technologies. However, healthcare organizations, especially those facing resource constraints, are grappling with many challenges that hinder their ability to allocate necessary resources to cybersecurity.
In the past year, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) Cybersecurity Working Group have joined forces to provide tools, resources, training, and information to support organizations in the healthcare sector. CISA contributes its technical expertise as the nation's cybersecurity defense agency, HHS brings extensive knowledge of healthcare and public health, and the HSCC Cybersecurity Working Group offers practical insights from industry experts actively addressing cybersecurity issues in the healthcare and public health domain every day. This collaborative effort aims to enhance cybersecurity resilience for healthcare organizations, particularly those facing resource challenges.
Read the full release here.