We’ve all seen stories of hospital operations impacted by ransomware over the past few months, and in this episode of STEPS to Value we examine this particularly troublesome variant of malware and identify some approaches to combat its growing threat.

Electronic Secure Data is one of the five categories of value in the HIMSS Health IT Value STEPS™ framework. As we’ve shown through the framework, when data is available in electronic form, it adds value in many ways. But if we don’t maintain its confidentiality, integrity and availability, the value could become an unexpected liability. The costs related to a data breach can be crippling and, in the case of ransomware, there are additional costs that come with restoring systems, paying the ransom, or both, depending on the situation.

In This Episode

We talk with Frederick Cox, director of information security for Varian Medical Systems. Fred designs information security architecture and HIPAA and HITECH compliance programs. He’s worked in a variety of industries and has over 30 years’ experience in securing information. Fred also serves on the HIMSS Risk Assessment workgroup.

Over the course of this conversation, Fred shares his insights and offers advice to healthcare professionals looking for a more secure environment. Some solutions involve people, while others are purely technical. All of it is focused on malware, specifically, ransomware.

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