Former CIO for President George W. Bush, Theresa Payton, has spoken on many accounts about the unnerving and yet educational take on cyber-attacks in the healthcare system.

“You are going to get breached,” she said in no uncertain terms. “All systems are hackable. You need to think differently and be prepared for the worst.”( Cyberattacks Are Coming. Are You Ready, 2014)

The truth is, we no longer live in a world where firewalls and Malware are strong enough to keep out hackers. It’s time to be more realistic and make security a part of business goals. Theresa gives multiple statistics, in which one, she announces that only 28% of companies require their vendors, partners and supply chain to match levels of risk control.

Companies need to initiate the proper crisis plan and educate not only themselves but their vendors, partners and customers. If everyone has a process in place on how to react during a breach you are effectively taking control of the situation.

Theresa states, “The first step is asking management –“What are we going to do to prevent a breach from happening and what are we doing to help our customers?”  (Theresa Payton’s FICO World Keynote ,2014)

She goes on to mention investing a lot of time on the proper education and routinely practicing a digital disaster to prepare for the smallest of attacks. If you are ahead of the game and prepared, you are likely to minimize the event of a breach.

After you have educated and mapped out the processes then look at technology, behavioral analytics to be exact. Theresa explains that researching the proper analytics and analyzing any changes in data can help recognize the beginning of a breach occurrence.

Theresa makes both eye opening and practical points when speaking on cyber-attacks. It will take time, but once a system is implemented you fill more at ease about the issue at hand.

Sources

  1. “Theresa Payton’s FICO World Keynote: White House, Black Art.” FICO. N.p., 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
  2. “Cyberattacks Are Coming. Are You Ready?” Cybersecurity Expert Warns of Data Breaches. N.p., 30 Oct. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.