By Dan Hounsell

Cybercriminals haven’t taken a break during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, hackers have scaled up their attacks on healthcare organizations.

The result is that healthcare IT managers are having trouble keeping pace with the advances cybercriminals are making, according to HealthTech. The Black Book research found that 96 percent of IT professionals in healthcare agreed that cybercriminals are outpacing healthcare organizations, leaving them at a disadvantage in responding to vulnerabilities.

Given the challenges that organizations face in keeping cyberattackers at bay, an effective incident response plan is essential. Having a plan in place helps to ensure the response is swift and organized and that an organization can avoid rash decisions that could exacerbate the situation. Managers need to consider a range of elements as they develop their incident response plans. For example:

• The plan should identify key members of the organization who are responsible for making tough and immediate decisions. These leaders should engage in tabletop exercises to practice effective responses.
• The plan should establish a process for training staff members in emergency response protocols and testing them to assess their effectiveness.