But as the case of Lurie Children’s Hospital demonstrates, all it takes is one breach – a crack in the foundation or a fissure in the damn of an organization’s cybersecurity – to cost it millions in data. And this doesn’t begin to account for the human toll, or an organization’s related financial and existential losses.
Because the source of a data breach is usually tied not to systemic failure but spending prioritization, the cybersecurity conversation must be transformed. Rather than settling on a reactive, “What now?” model, organizations must not only be encouraged to embrace a proactive approach to data protection – but also be presented with clear evidence of why it’s a more prudent and ultimately more cost-effective choice.
Keeping our bodies and our organizations healthy is a lifelong and tireless commitment. And anecdotal comparisons or the crunching of numbers on a balance sheet won’t necessarily clarify the risk-reward equation. Some people smoke and eat cheeseburgers, going on to live a long life. Similarly, not every healthcare organization with lagging cybersecurity support will be brought to its knees by hackers. But as data breaches continue to increase and cyberattacking groups grow more sophisticated, the risk and cost – not just ransoms, but the long-term effects on patients and hospital operations – come into sharper focus.
In the end, willful negligence in the name of lower up-front costs is a monumental gamble. Building a proactive cybersecurity infrastructure on a foundation of constant monitoring and maintenance, on the other hand, gives every organization its best chance to avoid potentially ruinous consequences. In cybersecurity as in healthcare, prevention is always a preferred strategy over after care.
About the author: Dan Draper is founder and CEO of CipherStash, a data security company that utilizes groundbreaking searchable encryption technology. Back to HCB News
