*Disclaimer: This article originally appeared on HIT Consultant.

The healthcare sector is charged with preserving some of the most sensitive information of any industry. Hospitals and clinics are required to securely store data, such as social security numbers, patient medical records, insurance policy details, and credit card numbers.

In a recent blog article, we discussed the top 5 Identity and Access Management challenges the healthcare industry is facing. Evolving compliance regulations, growing M&A activity, digital transformation, ongoing financial and organizational issues, and mounting security threats are all driving the need for more comprehensive Identity and Access Management (IAM) capabilities that go well-beyond pure single sign-on (SSO) alone.

Recently, Identity Automation CEO, James Litton was featured in a USA Today article that posed the question: Is Single Sign-On (SSO) the answer to our password-related struggles?

Cybersecurity breaches continue to plague healthcare organizations. Every month, new horror stories about patient data being compromised hit the headlines. Despite this, and the evolving regulations in healthcare, the fact remains that the industry is still behind the curve when it comes to cybersecurity.

We’ve decided to take a closer look at the top threat actions that are causing these healthcare data breaches and how a modern identity and access management (IAM) solution can help. So far in our series, we’ve covered social engineering and malware attacks. 

In terms of the traditional security structure, the cloud has changed everything— its pushed the perimeter boundaries outside the organization’s four walls. With the soft perimeter of a hybrid environment, comes the complexity of additional tools and analytics that are needed to achieve the same level of visibility as with traditional edge security devices.

With over 120,000 schools in the United States, it is easy to think that your district can hide safely in the noise or that among the pack, your schools are safe. While this mindset that cyber criminals have “bigger fish to fry” may give you some peace of mind, the facts instead point to a rise in cyber attacks targeting organizations exactly like yours.

Often times, healthcare organizations have point solutions to address critical areas, but are still concerned about their broader security needs.

Recently, we headed to the quaint town of Georgetown, Texas for the annual TX CTO Summer Clinic 2019, a two-day conference hosted by the Texas K12 CTO Council chapter. Created in 2003 by Texas school district Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), the Texas K12 CTO Council was the first chapter of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a leading professional association for technology leaders in school districts. 

Over the past 10 years, the healthcare industry has experienced a drastic rise in cyberattacks and data breaches. The number of reported healthcare-related data breaches has consistently grown every year since the Department of Health and Human Services began tracking breaches in 2009—and 2018 was no different.

In early May, the city of Baltimore was hit by a massive ransomware attack which crippled city employees and residents from their day-to-day tasks for weeks, ultimately costing millions in taxpayer dollars. Ransomware, a type of malware or malicious software that weaponizes encryption, is used by hackers to first encrypt data on a victim’s machine, blocking access to a computer system or service.