Directors on corporate boards in all industries have trouble understanding the risks that cybersecurity presents, but none more so than those in healthcare.
The number of members on a board of directors in any industry who have a "high level" of understanding of the risks is low, at only 11 percent, according to a survey by the National Association of Corporate Directors and reports the Wall Street Journal.
In healthcare, the number of board members who say they have "little knowledge" about the risks stands at 30 percent, according to WSJ.
This is a problem in an industry that is far behind others when it comes to protecting its consumers' private information.
Although professionals in healthcare say that cybersecurity has grown as a business priority at their organizations, a large number also admit that their facilities have seen a significant security incidents recently, according to a survey by HIMSS. Sixty-eight percent of the 297 individuals responding to the survey said there had been an attack on their facility recently.
The hacks are creating a need for higher level members at organizations who are equipped to tackle such growing threats, the article adds, which includes boards of directors paying more attention to the hiring of chief security information officers.
CISOs in healthcare have their work cut out for them. Healthcare information is some of the hardest to protect, harder than financial information, Mayo Clinic CISO Jim Nelms previously told the WSJ. He attributes much of the difficulty to the plethora of medical devices being used in hospital and to doctors sharing information.
To learn more:
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