To combat the escalating proliferation of cyberattacks on healthcare, organisations need to ensure their IT and cyber foundations are sound. This seems like an obvious statement to make, but after 15 years of poor investment in health IT, there’s a lot to do. Andy E, former Director of Connected Nottinghamshire, the first chief cyber security officer for a system STP and most recently the first Chief Cyber Security Officer for an ICS at Birmingham and Solihull explores the key capabilities required to improve things.

The Trust had been using Imprivata Enterprise Access Management (formerly OneSign) since 2015 for single sign on, so staff were familiar with tap and go for accessing patient information and systems, such as electronic patient records (EPR).

However, in 2021 the Trust instigated a new project around the use of observation devices to collect and record vital signs information for in-patients.

David Hancock, co-chair of INTEROPen recently penned a blog about the clear benefits of open standards and the challenges of delivering them.

He remarks at the end of the blog “Open standards are vital for opening up the NHS for system vendors, but also citizens whilst building a far healthier and collaborative environment for IT development.”

This is a statement that we at Imprivata wholeheartedly agree with.

Even if a hospital isn’t directly targeted by a cyberattack, it can still suffer the ramifications of one. For instance, if a hospital is breached and unable to operate, it needs to divert patients to other facilities. This can put increased strain on surrounding hospitals, impacting care delivery, causing delays and creating a patient safety risk. Or, a software vendor could be breached, taking down payment or billings systems the hospital relies on.

Zscaler enables healthcare organizations and their strategic partners to securely transform their networks and applications, enabling the delivery of new care models and improving patient outcomes. Zscaler's HIPAA compliant solutions ensure fast, secure connections between users and applications, regardless of device, location, or network. Trusted by leading healthcare organizations across the globe, Zscaler operates the world’s largest cloud security platform, protecting enterprises and government agencies from cyberattacks and data loss.