Cybersecurity – Preventing the Worst-Case Scenario

As healthcare has become ubiquitously digitised, we have reaped the benefits of more easily accessed and shared patient data. Clinicians know more about their patients’ medical history and have digital tools to better assist in diagnosis and care. But this has also increased our risks.

Bad actors and recognising the monetary value of healthcare data are increasingly putting our healthcare practitioners and centres at risk for cybersecurity attacks. High-profile cyberattacks have become all too common for healthcare organisations, and with the continued implementation of network-connected devices, the risk from cyberattacks increases.

According to the 2022 Digital Health Most Wired (DHMW) survey recently released by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), 97% of healthcare organisations rank security as an essential or high priority in 2023 as they continue to invest in their security capabilities and technology.

These risks are not going unaddressed. The DHMW survey found that among U.S. acute care facilities, 60% of healthcare organisations now have a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in place and responsible for information security. This is but one strategy to mitigate these risks.

In this issue, our contributors discuss the importance of cybersecurity in healthcare and present examples of efforts underway across the globe to achieve better cybersecurity and ultimately better protect our patients and the facilities that serve them.

Henrique Martins talks about the need for integrated hospital/healthcare organisation interoperability and cyber- and information security plans and the importance of protecting patient data within and in inter-organisational transfer processes.

Vito Petrarolo and Giovanni Maglio discuss measures that can be implemented to limit the likelihood of a breach or reduce its scale and consequences and the need for increased focus on building mission-critical systems with the goal of quickly recovering from both anticipated and unexpected attack scenarios.

Alexios Antoniou talks about the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) and how it can deliver game-changing benefits to healthcare institutions, patients and society, the challenges IoMT systems face regarding security of interconnected components and recommendations for better security.

In other feature articles, Elisabetta Schiavone, Alessandra Sorrentino, Lara Merighi and co-authors highlight the importance of creating a safe and inclusive workplace for people with migraine and design criteria that can help reduce the presence of triggers.

This issue also includes interviews and articles that discuss strategies and recommendations to improve cybersecurity, unlocking the power of data to transform patient care, diagnosis, treatment and management of syncope, future trends in radiology and healthcare, a new standard of seizure care and transforming the dental industry with dental service organisations.

We hope you will enjoy this issue. As always, your feedback is welcome.

Happy Reading!