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.

With constantly evolving security and compliance regulations, it may seem impossible for healthcare organizations to sustain a high level of security, while also ensuring quick, efficient access to systems and data.

Last month, our top Identity and Access Management (IAM) experts escaped the Texas heat and traveled to Albany, New York for the 22nd Annual New York State (NYS) Cyber Security Conference.

*Disclaimer: This article originally appeared in EmergingEdTech, Administrative Solutions posts. 

School districts throughout the country rely on technology today more than ever before. At many districts, laptops and tablets are standard-issue equipment for students as young as second grade-level, and they must be compatible with campus networks as well as in the home.

With mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on the rise, it’s likely that your company has either experienced an M&A already or will at some point. And you're also likely aware of the herculean effort that’s required of IT staff. Suddenly, IT is knee deep in integration efforts, such as onboarding acquired employees, consolidating domains, and integrating technology stacks. Let’s face it, cybersecurity is rarely the top priority.

In healthcare, the pressure is always on to drive down overall costs and provide higher levels of patient care. The result: a never-ending quest to increase efficiency. EMR’s, telehealth tools, and other third-party IT solutions that enhance productivity and streamline clinician workflows have become the norm.

Another year, another series of data breach headlines. 2018 has come to a close, and we’ve been looking back at one of the year’s biggest and potentially costliest breaches: the British Airways data breach that was announced back in September. With approximately 380,000 booking transactions exposed and more than $1 billion in potential fines and lawsuits, the breach offers many important lessons.