The future of cybersecurity in healthcare: Managing emerging cybersecurity threats

Imagine a world where you wake up every morning and your personalized device tells you exactly which supplements to take based on your nutrition, environment, activity, and stress levels over the past week. Healthcare is evolving into a new era where nearly everything is connected through digital technologies to meet the common goal of improving the way healthcare is delivered to patients. In this future, there is no more guessing; consumers will know how to take their health into their own hands.

Underlying all of these exciting developments is cyber. And the risks surrounding cybersecurity in healthcare will only increase as the future of health takes shape. Let’s take a critical look at six key factors driving cyber in the future of health, the cybersecurity issues associated with them, and the steps leaders can take to manage evolving cybersecurity threats in healthcare.

What we can expect to see in the future of health?

• Radically interoperable data that empowers hyper-engaged customers to sustain well-being.
• Always-on sensors and platforms that capture data and platforms that aggregate, store, and drive insights.
• Prospective and predictive care that adapts to the needs of the empowered consumer.

Cyber in the future of health

In the future of health, data will be more widely shared, collected, and analyzed. Healthcare organizations will be positioned to create new value from this previously unavailable information, using it to drive operational efficiencies and enhance consumer engagement. As this transformation advances, organizations will need to pay closer attention to data privacy and take steps to modernize data protection standards. They will also face added pressure to establish better awareness, detection, and response capabilities for cybersecurity threats in healthcare.

With the future of healthcare taking shape sooner than predicted—in large part due to COVID-19—leaders should prepare for the rapidly changing risk landscape that comes with progress and innovation. They can start by understanding the six drivers that are likely to play a key role in defining the future of cyber and cybersecurity in healthcare.

• Agility: As the future of health takes shape and consumers assert more control over their health decisions, cybersecurity and data privacy solutions should be easy to consume if they are to be viable.
• Ecosystem coordination: Across many industries, by 2023, organizations that are part of a connected digital business ecosystem will have 40% of their customer service cases initiated by business partners in that ecosystem.
• Devices: The number of devices will significantly increase in the future of healthcare, as will their value in the healthcare ecosystem. The challenge for healthcare organizations will be trusting the devices and data they generate, which may often be outside their control.
• Data: The future of health will be characterized by lots of devices, lots of data, and lots of sharing—which will make radically interoperable data and open platforms key enablers of the innovative services and delivery models on the healthcare horizon.
• Artificial Intelligence: During this pandemic, AI projects have accelerated in healthcare, bioscience, and health-related sectors such as manufacturing, financial services, and supply chain. Proactive threat analysis on AI applications and protection of AI source data and algorithms are just a few of the strategies organizations should be prepared to use to enable the ethical design and governance of this powerful technology.
• User-friendly: As the future of health takes shape and consumers assert more control over their health decisions, cybersecurity and data privacy solutions should be easy to consume if they are to be viable. 

Cybersecurity in healthcare: Preparing for a promising and secure future

Healthcare is on the brink of many seismic shifts. Innovations and external factors will continue to elevate and introduce new risks. Now more than ever, it is imperative for cybersecurity and privacy to become fully integrated, by design, in the piloting and deployment of new healthcare services and solutions. And industry players are beholden to responsibly embrace the drivers of change and the challenges to come, not only to deliver on the promise of the future of health, but also to enable a safe and secure tomorrow.