These days, even small organizations can operate at scales far beyond their headcounts. Technologies like cloud infrastructure, virtualization, remote access, automation, digital supply chains, and artificial intelligence all act as force multipliers to help small teams do much more than would have been possible even a decade ago, creating security and compliance challenges far in excess of their size on paper. That fact belies the fallacy that smaller organizations (as if the idea was ever credible) are less attractive targets for cybercriminals. That’s the digital equivalent to whistling past the graveyard.
A Multimillion-Dollar Problem
For organizations of any scope—large or small—a better approach is to disregard the size of the establishment and instead consider the size of the security and compliance problem. Only then can you properly understand the risks associated with improper data security and management. And whatever industry you happen to be in, the costs associated with a failure to address those risks can be exorbitant. According to the most recent IBM-Ponemon Institute Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach is $4.88 million, but those costs are much higher in certain industries that regularly handle sensitive consumer financial and health data. When suffering a data breach, the five most expensive industry averages are:
- Healthcare $9.77M
- Financial Services $6.08M
- Industrial $5.56M
- Technology $5.45M
- Energy $5.29M
In a recent interview with Cyber Defense Magazine’s Annabelle Thomas, Coviant Software CEO Greg Hoffer discussed the challenges of addressing the security and compliance needs of healthcare organizations amid changing regulations and a persistent threat from cybercriminals. Hoffer talked about the need to deliver managed file transfer (MFT) functionality that meets customer expectations for ease-of-use, staff productivity, and integration with the services and applications healthcare organizations use each day. But he emphasized that Coviant Software must never lose sight of the foundational ethic driving product development: keep data safe.
Greg Hoffer Talks Security and Compliance with Cyber Defense TV
“We listen to the customer and balance their needs with evolving security standards to meet changing requirements and deliver a product that always delivers improved performance, security, and reliability,” Hoffer said. But there’s never an opportunity to rest because regulations and the threat environment are always changing.
Big Challenges in Healthcare Security
In healthcare many changes are driven by expected updates to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Healthcare is a target for nefarious actors because health data like protected health information (PHI) and the data contained in electronic health records (EHR) is valuable to cybercriminals and so “we absolutely laud efforts to increase security” in the healthcare industry, Hoffer explained, adding that several features of Diplomat MFT 9.4 reflect changes outlined in the proposed update to HIPAA, including:
- Role-based, least privilege authentication
- Single sign-on & LDAP integration
- Digital supply chain connection mapping
- One-click audit documentation and reporting
- Quantum-resistant encryption
Coviant Software has a long history of helping organizations across all industries better move and protect sensitive data, but healthcare presents a major challenge because of the “massive volume” of data those organizations collect, store, and transfer internally and externally every day. That information includes data associated with admissions, billing and invoicing, clinical trials, regulatory reports, and more.
Stay Ahead of the Challenges
Hoffer explained that Diplomat MFT “strives to increase the security and operationalization of that data through automation and strong encryption, including the latest quantum-resistant cryptographic standards from NIST,” and emphasized the importance of delivering a streamlined approach to file transfer that addresses security and compliance by staying ahead of regulatory changes. He also discussed the value of a managed file transfer solution that helps address the complexity of extensive digital supply chains—traditionally a weak link in cybersecurity.
“We study, we research, and we follow all the updates on proposed regulation changes, and we bake that into our software,” Hoffer said. “Now our customers’ IT teams don’t have to spend their time and risk getting it wrong. They can rely on us as a trusted vendor and, with point-and-click simplicity, be confident that their file transfers adhere to the requirements outlined in the regulation.”
Size Matters, and Diplomat MFT Measures Up
Yes, size matters. And so, if your organization is looking for a way to knock its file transfer challenges down to a manageable size and keep sensitive healthcare, financial, business, and other data safe, Coviant Software can help. Our software has been trusted by leading healthcare organizations for more than twenty years. We’d love to help you, too.
To ensure your file transfer workflows are automated, secure, and reliable, book a discussion today to review your needs and bring your MFT tools and protocols up-to-date.