Dive Brief:
- Tech organization HITRUST, working with HHS, has set plans to conduct monthly cyber threat briefings and alerts with the healthcare sector.
- HITRUST has also created a cyber threat system to notify healthcare providers when they see a high-probability, high-impact cyber attack targeted at healthcare organizations.
- These C3 Alerts are free of charge, and will be issued anytime HITRUST C3 notes a present and immediate cyber threat relevant to a large number of healthcare organizations, medical devices and systems.
Dive Insight:
While every industry has security problems, healthcare organizations are custodians of some of the most sensitive data an industry is likely to encounter. HITRUST's program sounds like a welcome addition to the existing cyber threat prevention activities providers already undertake. After all, most providers do their best, but still get hacked. And the attacks are likely to very expensive, costing healthcare organizations an average of $5.44 million annually as of 2013. The more help, the merrier.