Forrester just released its US Healthcare Security Benchmark that looks at the current state of security spending in healthcare. In such a highly regulated industry, budget constraints have inhibited security maturity. However, increased breaches and cyberattacks, as well as healthcare technology innovation, demand much higher levels of security.

Forrester found that while the healthcare industry needs robust security in light of increased risks and breaches, the industry is lagging and ill-prepared. In fact, only 41% of US healthcare workers said that they received training on how to stay secure at work. Healthcare providers must align security priorities with digital transformation efforts to spur innovation and better healthcare outcomes, while avoiding data leaks and subsequent regulatory fines.

Additional findings include:

  • Healthcare firms have suffered some of the most devastating ransomware and other cyberattacks; however, they allocate a smaller percentage of their IT budget to security technologies than other industries – 22% compared with the US industry average of 28%.
  • Security staffing today makes up 14% of the overall US healthcare IT security budget — the same portion it was two years ago.
  • Among US healthcare security decision makers:
    • 44% expect overall IT security spending to increase by 5% or more over the next year.
    • 40% expect spending on data security to increase by more than 5% through 2018.

Click here for more information, and please contact us if you’d like a copy of the report.