Most industries, including healthcare, are investing in digital transformation solutions. This enables the shift from on-premises architecture to cloud-based systems. Various healthcare service providers are using AI tools for digital transformation in the healthcare industry. However, what remains a concern is cybersecurity. There needs to be proper security for all databases and networks in the healthcare industry. This is possible through the implementation of AIOps.

What are the Different Cybersecurity Risks and Challenges in the Healthcare Industry?

Cyber-attacks can occur at any time and within any type of industry. The healthcare industry is often at risk of malicious attacks or data theft. This is mainly because healthcare providers usually deal with confidential data, patient information, or medical research and records. Healthcare providers no longer utilize paper documents and mostly rely on digital record-keeping. However, suppose these digital databases are not encrypted. In that case, they will not be secure from external threats or even internal issues, which though rare, can occur. The healthcare cybersecurity risk management technology used by most healthcare service providers tends to be traditional. This is why these providers are unable to safeguard their data.

Cybersecurity threats in the healthcare industry can be of various types. Here are a few common ones:

• Selective forging
• Phishing attacks
• DOS attacks

While these types of attacks and more threats plague healthcare providers who do not have sound cybersecurity solutions, they face numerous challenges. Following are some of the biggest cybersecurity challenges present in the healthcare industry.

• Breakdown of Silos
  Healthcare service providers may face difficulty in breaking down silos. This is because these platforms deal with vast volumes of data from different sources, and such traffic can lead to silos. However, silos cannot be present for enhanced cybersecurity as that puts the system at risk. Healthcare providers need to ensure the availability of unified organizational data.

• Security and Compliance
  Cybersecurity is critical in the healthcare industry as every healthcare provider needs to process sensitive patient information. But most find security and compliance challenging despite being legally bound to ensure compliance to safeguard patient information. This particular challenge can be overcome through patient care technology and safety solutions. However, many healthcare providers find it challenging to adopt new technologies and deal with data sensitivity when it comes to multiple databases.

• Timely Identification of Cyber Attacks
  To ensure complete security, healthcare service providers need to be able to predict cyber-attacks. However, despite changing digital infrastructures, most healthcare service platforms rely on manual processes. Such manual processes are not effective in identifying cyber threats before they occur. Monitoring of healthcare infrastructure is also limited, which can expose multiple vulnerabilities within the system. Healthcare service providers that have not completely shifted to solutions like anomaly detection and predictive analytics usually face an immense challenge in identifying threats before they start affecting critical processes.

How can AIOps Assist Healthcare Providers in Tackling and Eliminating Cybersecurity Risks?

Cybersecurity threats will happen, and healthcare services will continue to be at risk if the service providers do not invest in proper technology. AIOps solutions are instrumental in tackling the risks and predicting the nature of attacks before there is any severe damage. Such implementation is crucial in the healthcare industry because it ensures patient safety and protects and allows the entire healthcare infrastructure to continue at its highest functionality. AIOps tools such as predictive analytics, machine learning, adaptive learning solutions, and natural language processing can assist in protecting digital databases and minimizing cybersecurity risks.

Implementing AIOps to deal with cybersecurity problems can be beneficial to healthcare service providers in the following ways.

• Improving Data Storage Security
  AIOps-led cybersecurity and risk management services in healthcare can ensure that all digital databases are secure. Digital databases in the healthcare industry contain a large volume of sensitive information. They can often be the target of cybersecurity threats. The implementation of AIOps can assist healthcare service providers with securing data storage platforms. AIOps tools through anomaly detection can predict threats and assist healthcare providers in creating more secure infrastructures. It eliminates the need for manual processes that can often lead to errors that make the system vulnerable and thus ensure that all data storage facilities are monitored and optimized.

• Easy Visualization of Cybersecurity Risks to Prompt Efficient Decision-Making
  If healthcare service providers were to deal with the growing range of cybersecurity threats, they would have to be well aware of the nature of the threats. AIOps solutions can help with the visualization of different forms of threats. This is done through a thorough analysis of the healthcare service infrastructure. The insights achieved can help to shed light on the loopholes and vulnerabilities. Once there is enough information on the nature of the attacks, and why they might happen, healthcare service providers will be able to secure their digital databases and other platforms.

• Security for Various Healthcare Networks
  Malware can affect various parts of healthcare services, including the digital networks or channels through which the services are made available. To deal with this, AIOps solutions like predictive analytics are necessary. By implementing predictive analytics, healthcare providers can analyze the networks and the different network activities. Suppose any functions appear to be suspicious or out of the ordinary. In that case, this information will be provided to the teams as insights. It can help healthcare service providers understand the networks’ shortcomings and make an informed decision to resolve the issues.

Apart from the benefits mentioned above, AIOps solutions can also help with incident prioritization, allowing healthcare providers to know which issue requires immediate attention. AIOps and AI in healthcare IT solutions can also help enhance observability in healthcare IT, allowing healthcare providers to understand the system’s condition. This will enable them to invest in reliable and relevant cybersecurity measures.

Conclusion

As technology continues to advance, malware and the nature of cyberattacks will also change. This is why healthcare providers must invest in AIOps-based cybersecurity measures. Such AI-led operations management services in healthcare will ensure better outcomes and safeguard all sensitive data.