The U.S. healthcare industry faces mounting challenges, including workforce shortages and a digital environment that is expanding more rapidly than its capacity to protect it. As a result, demand is growing for professionals with skills and expertise that can be acquired through the Southern Utah University (SUU) online Master of Science (MS) in Cybersecurity with Information Assurance (CSIA) – Healthcare Administration Emphasis program.
Graduates are prepared for senior roles in shaping cybersecurity strategies, driving innovation and safeguarding digital assets in the healthcare industry. Industry executives worry that insufficient investment and persistent scarcity of tech-proficient professionals to design and implement crucial initiatives are throttling its digital transformation, according to McKinsey & Company and Huron.
That makes healthcare a target-rich environment for hackers. Since 2020, cybercriminals have launched 1,400 attacks on healthcare targets. Twenty percent of hospitals reported an attack; nearly half of small to medium-sized hospitals that were attacked had to suspend operations because of an attack, according to Tausight.
“If possible, you should also dedicate at least one person full time to lead the information security program, and prioritize that role so that he or she has sufficient authority, status and independence to be effective,” the American Hospital Association (AHA) advises healthcare administrators. The AHA’s guidance likely will place additional upward pressure on demand for tech-savvy professionals.
Healthcare Career Tracks for Professionals With Cybersecurity Expertise
SUU’s innovative, 100% online curriculum, situated at the intersection of cybersecurity and healthcare administration, prepares graduates for the following roles:
- Healthcare security analysts: protect sensitive information, ensure regulatory compliance, manage risks, monitor security systems and educate staff on best practices
- Cybersecurity compliance healthcare analysts: focus on regulatory adherence and policy development
- Cyber resilience analysts: assess risks, manage incidents, ensure regulatory compliance, support crisis management, report to executives and promote best practices for organizational cybersecurity resilience
- Healthcare cybersecurity services analysts: ensure HIPAA compliance, protect patient health data, secure medical devices, assess risks, respond to incidents and provide specialized cybersecurity training for healthcare staff
The SUU program provides a multifaceted approach to cybersecurity in the healthcare environment. Coursework ranges from global cybersecurity law and ethical considerations to practical, hands-on development and implementation of cybersecurity policy and practices.
The Role of Information Assurance in a Digital Protection Environment
IA and cybersecurity are distinct but related processes, according to the federal Computer Security Resource Center. It defines IA as “measures that protect and defend information and information systems by ensuring their availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation,” often referred to as the five pillars of IA.
Cybersecurity is often described as a subset of IA. It comprises the technical tools and tactics to protect digital assets, while IA focuses on developing and implementing policies and procedures governing risk assessment, access controls and vulnerability and incident-response management.
Why Are IA and Cybersecurity Critical to Healthcare Administration?
Healthcare organizations are prime targets for cyberattacks due to their wealth of valuable data, including patient health information, financial details, and intellectual property related to medical research and treatment. Patient files sell on the dark web at 10 times the price of stolen credit card accounts. Moreover, the cost to remediate a healthcare data breach is nearly triple that of other industries, averaging $408 per stolen record compared to $148 in non-healthcare sectors, according to AHA.
Forbes notes that the healthcare sector is in a vortex of cyber-vulnerability: It has enormous, complex datasets running on legacy systems with access points as far-flung as remote medicine platforms, network-connected medical wearables and monitoring. The speed of the expanding digital footprint virtually defies thoughtful integration of systems and processes to protect them.
The challenge is complicated because the industry is so busy expanding its digital capabilities that protecting them is not considered a strategic priority. “No single person is accountable for security. It has to involve everyone. However, organizations need to realign incentives internally to prioritize the fundamentals in a meaningful way. That requires attentive leadership,” Forbes explains.
The U.S. population is growing older, getting sicker and demanding less costly but more effective medical care. Position yourself at the intersection of growing demand for affordable healthcare and the technology that makes that possible by enrolling in the online MS-CSIA – Healthcare Administration Emphasis program from SUU.
Learn more about SUU’s online Master of Science in Cybersecurity with Information Assurance – Healthcare Administration Emphasis program.
