Risk is inseparable from the modern business landscape – and therefore, every company needs an effective risk management program to identify, assess, manage, and mitigate risk. Robust processes, solid internal controls, and an enterprise risk management framework can help an organization identify best practices, share knowledge, and track metrics to meet these strategic objectives. But another critical element to risk management binds all those other components together: risk culture.

Healthcare organizations such as hospitals and clinics are vulnerable to all manner of cyberattacks, particularly phishing and business email compromise (BEC) scams, man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks, and data breaches. Third-party risks and ransomware risks are also serious security problems in healthcare, especially in the post-COVID era. The medical world had already noted such cyberattacks years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic only underlined those worries about cyber attacks.

The Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security (SHIELD) Act is designed to protect the personal data of all New York residents. This act broadens the data privacy and protection standards stipulated in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). What makes this particular data protection law unique is its inclusion of biometric information, usernames, and passwords in the category of personal information.

Organizations increasingly rely on third parties for business operations, and as a result are working with more digital suppliers than ever. According to Gartner, 60% of organizations work with more than 1,000 third parties and this number will grow. High-profile vulnerabilities such as Log4Shell are a constant reminder of the risks posed by a breakdown in the software supply chain. This has spurred enterprises to increase the rigor of software risk assessments to ensure supply chain security.

It seems like the next flavor of cyberattack is always making the news, a constant reminder of how vigilant businesses need to be to try and keep themselves, their customers and their suppliers safe. Almost every organization of any size will have some sort of vulnerability assessment and management program, security hardening framework and basic training for employees to recognize malicious emails and phishing attacks.

There are many critical factors to ensuring an effective cybersecurity program; however, two of the most important are accuracy and timeliness. With limited search capabilities that direct you to insufficient results or extended navigation time to find items of relevance, the cyber risk of your rapidly growing vendor ecosystem is left unmanaged. Think about it like this: when you have two contacts in your phone saved under the same first name, how do you determine which one is the right one to call?

A cyber incident can range from a minor power outage to a full-scale cyber attack. No matter the incident scale, having clear guidelines to follow can help organizations create effective and standardized response plans. The SysAdmin, Audit, Network, and Security (SANS) Institute is one of the leading organizations providing cybersecurity training, research, and certification.