Health organisations have accelerated their cloud adoption because of the pandemic.
Global healthcare organisations (HCOs) have accelerated their spending on cloud migration, but many may be over-estimating their ability to protect these environments.
According to a survey by Sapio Research, commissioned by Trend Micro about 2,500 IT decision makers in 28 countries across several industry sectors, including healthcare.
The results show that 88 per cent of HCOs have accelerated their cloud adoption because of the pandemic. Remote working, cost savings and improved IT agility were three main reasons for the switch to cloud-based infrastructure.
Rapid shifts to the cloud may leave organisations at higher risk of cyber threats. Here are four challenges HCOs reportedly faced when moving to cloud-based environments:
- Skills shortages: 43 per cent revealed that skills gaps are a persistent barrier to migrating to cloud security solutions.
- Day-to-day operations: Setting and maintaining policies (34per cent), patching and vulnerability management (32 per cent), and misconfigurations (32per cent) were challenges of protecting cloud workloads.
- Increased costs: 43 per cent have spent more on capital expenses and paying for contracted out services, while 39 per cent have spent more on operational and training costs since migrating.
- Security responsibility: Just 40per cent are confident they secure their part of the Shared Responsibility Model.
While cloud migration isn’t simple, it can be enabled and improved using the right security tools.
The healthcare sector has been on the frontline in the struggle against COVID-19, and digital transformation can make a positive impact on productivity and patient care during this time of critical need. However, it is essential that the broader attack surface of an expanded digital infrastructure is given due consideration.
With the right cloud-ready solutions in place, HCOs can maximise cloud benefits without putting mission-critical systems or patient data at risk.
Such tools can also minimise skills challenges by spotting misconfigurations, automating patching and policy management, and integrating security into DevOps, across both cloud and on-premise environments.
Tags: healthcareSecurity
