Becker's Hospital Review

21 EXECUTIVE BRIEFING EXECUTIVE BRIEFING 2 key," Mr. Douglas said. "You need to get ahead of cybersecurity issues and communicate them effectively to the board and senior executive team." Mr. Douglas explained why moving to a platform-based security program is also more effective than a security architecture based on multiple point solutions. "If I were to give any advice, it would be to avoid the point product concept," he said. "You need a security platform. If you safeguard new capabilities by tying them into a platform, you can ensure that consistent security is applied." Amid Healthcare Mergers, the Importance of Cybersecurity Can't Be Underestimated As healthcare mergers and acquisitions continue, organizations' cyberattack surfaces grow. Proactively addressing security issues as part of the M&A process is essential. "A health system that used to have strong cybersecurity can inherit gaps through M&A activity," Mr. Gardner said. Mr. Douglas agreed. "If a healthcare organization has an imperative to grow through acquisition, the leadership must proactively conduct due diligence in a way that keeps IT security in mind," he said. "If you move forward with an acquisition and then integrate an organization with poor cybersecurity, the entire organization's networks will now be vulnerable." To prevent data breaches, it's important for hospitals and health systems to have controls in place to monitor security anomalies and raise alerts. "We recently worked with a healthcare organization that proactively detected and prevented a cyberattack," Mr. Gardner said. "A disgruntled employee at a business partner remotely accessed equipment with the intent of doing harm. Fortunately, the organization had deployed monitoring systems. This prevented the bad actor from accessing other network devices. When the tooling saw the activity, alerts were raised." Robust IT Security Can Prevent Disruptions in Care, Compliance & Budgets When a healthcare organization experiences a cyberattack, it can have significant negative repercussions — and as more health systems become technology dependent, these repercussions increase exponentially if security measures are not bolstered accordingly. Mr. Douglas recalled a recent example of a Midwest hospital that shuttered permanently due to the financial impact of a ransomware attack. "If an organization sustains an attack and doesn't have the proper remediation processes in place, it may have to divert patients to other healthcare systems," Mr. Douglas said. "So now, you're not only losing new patient revenue but potentially losing medical staff to other hospitals that aren't experiencing the same issues." He emphasized how breaches also affect hospitals' ability to recruit and maintain top talent — which often isn't acknowledged. Like any system, he said, these factors are interconnected. Further, cyberattacks erode patient trust and damage the organization's brand. "Patients will be reluctant to visit a hospital or health system that has suffered repeated data breaches," Mr. Gardner said. Palo Alto Networks Helps Hospitals & Health Systems Minimize the Risk of Cyberattacks Palo Alto Networks is a pure play cybersecurity company, meaning it is highly competent in and focused on cybersecurity, and has built a platform that helps healthcare organizations evolve to distributed care models. This enables organizations to pursue secure cloud transformation and SaaS-based applications with confidence and security in mind. "Our platform-based approach to security allows us to sit down with care providers and assess their IT landscape," Mr. Douglas said. "We create solutions that help organizations drive efficiencies by consolidating many of their point technologies." Growing health systems appreciate that Palo Alto Networks' platform is an acquisition-ready architecture. "We work with organizations after they've acquired a facility and we drive a time-to-value equation," Mr. Douglas said. "As a result, they can integrate facilities as quickly as possible, without compromising security." Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 serves as a strategic security advisor, proactively helping healthcare organizations avoid potential attacks. Unit 42 provides hospitals and health systems with the appropriate playbooks, so teams can respond rapidly if a compromise occurs. Healthcare leaders also turn to Unit 42 to conduct tabletop exercises that simulate a cyberattack. This enables teams to practice remediation measures. Progressing in the 'New Normal' In today's world, cyberattacks are an unfortunate reality. It's not a matter of if a cyberattack will occur, it's only a matter of when one will occur and whether the organization is properly prepared. Palo Alto Networks works with many healthcare organizations across the U.S. to ensure they are well prepared to address the inevitable cyberattacks and to minimize the impact. "Robust cybersecurity helps hospitals and health systems adhere to their mission," Mr. Gardner said. "Trust in the organizations and professionals providing care is essential, therefore, safeguarding the patient data they have been entrusted with is paramount to all health systems and caregivers. Your IT teams and C-suite leaders will sleep better at night knowing that they've done their due diligence around cybersecurity." To learn more about cybersecurity in distributed care settings, read Palo Alto Networks' case study on Clearwater, Fla.-based BayCare Health System and their prescription for protecting more than 33,000 devices across its 160 locations — including 15 hospitals — staffed by 25,600 employees. Palo Alto Networks is the world's cybersecurity leader. Our next-gen security solutions, expert services, and industry-leading threat intelligence empower healthcare organizations to thwart cyberattacks and protect patient data so they can focus on delivering better patient outcomes and experiences.

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