To keep up with soaring COVID-19 cases across all continents, the healthcare industry is scrambling to incorporate new technologies. Recently, Microsoft 365 introduced new, centralized systems to help suffering healthcare institutions monitor patients and protect their information.
With millions of records to track, large-scale establishments are frequently on the hunt for less time-consuming contact tracing methods without having to employ over two dozen systems at a time. As more consumers rely on telemedicine to combat the fear of leaving home, Microsoft’s efforts are taking on the challenge of earning and retaining patient trust.
COVID-19 Changes Can Linger Even After the Crisis
According to Black Hat, a whopping 94% of respondents have already experienced increased cybersecurity threats to their enterprise systems and data—and they aren’t confident it’ll come to a halt even after the pandemic subsides.
As the entire country moves operations online, security professionals predict that returning to normalcy is nearly impossible. Changes affect today’s IT infrastructure, and data security is occurring rapidly and severely, causing a nationwide worry over states of health and data privacy.
Cyber-hackers are only becoming more resourceful despite a crackdown in security breaches via VPS servers and other robust strategies.
Why Patient Data Protection is More Important Now Than Ever Before
Black Hat has been conducting medical data privacy surveys since 2015, considering participants such as top executives, chief information, security, and technology officers, security specialists, and researchers.
Experts are pointing the finger at social distancing measures as a source of security threats. As many as 72% claim concern over stay-at-home employees breaking policy and exposing their systems to risk, whether purposefully or unintentionally. Meanwhile, two-thirds of participants believe that remote-access systems are too far behind, never built to carry such a level of secure data. In other words, remote workplaces were severely unprepared.
Among COVID-19-related online security concerns, phishing and social engineering threats take the cake. Despite efforts to dull its effects, security professionals predict that cybercriminals will still manage to take advantage of a rapidly restructuring line of communications between enterprises and their staff.
A massive 84% of survey participants believe that the cybersecurity threats will linger after the Coronavirus crisis sees its eventual end. The pandemic is already impacting the way managers and their teams work, socialize, and communicate. Without a predictable end in sight, there’s no telling how people will adjust shortly.
Even after business revert to normalcy, many will feel more comfortable leveraging technology for most tasks and activities than before. The growing paranoia can’t simply come to a halt. As such, crafting robust cybersecurity solutions is paramount to keeping businesses afloat, and patients accounted for.
What’s Next?
Despite the business landscape’s goal to reprioritize and minimize cutting deep into their budget, many will have to bite off more than they can chew to support business continuity and remote work. Many are already putting projects on hold to implement new crisis-inspired security measures. Even in 2021, this is likely to remain a top budget priority.
Keep up with the latest in healthcare news at Dose of Healthcare. We’re committed to keeping you in the loop regarding discoveries and the state of the nation in the hopes of providing you with more insight on the pandemic.
