Why hospitals, health systems are facing a cybersecurity talent shortage

Jackie Drees -

Cybersecurity positions in health systems on average take up to 70 percent longer to fill than other IT jobs, according to a recent Black Book research report.

For its November 2020 State of the Healthcare Industry Cybersecurity report, Black Book surveyed 2,464 security professionals from 705 provider organizations and 291 healthcare industry human resources executives to examine the supply and demand of cybersecurity candidates.

Health systems are struggling to find employees with cybersecurity-related skills and on average take about 118 days to fill job positions, which is almost three times as high as the national average for other industries.

Of the 66 health system CISOs that responded in the survey, 75 percent said that experienced cybersecurity workers are unlikely to choose a career path in healthcare because of the potential ramifications after a cyberattack. Despite having a very limited authority on decision-making technology and policies, healthcare CISOs are ultimately held responsible for a data breach as well as the financial and reputation impacts to the organization.

 

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