America’s Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) has launched an information-sharing resource aimed at improving the cybersecurity of the healthcare sector.

The new Health Industry Cybersecurity Matrix of Information Sharing Organizations (HIC-MISO) helps users stay on top of the latest security threats by providing them with a convenient list of cybersecurity information-sharing organizations across the United States. 

Featured in the new matrix are details of more than 25 cybersecurity information-sharing organizations and their services, including nine resources geared specifically toward the healthcare industry and the security of medical devices. 

Each listing includes a description of the organization and its mission together with details about any areas of cybersecurity specialization and how much, if anything, they charge for the information they share. 

Errol Weiss, chief security officer of the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (H-ISAC) and co-chair of the HSCC Information Sharing Task Group that created the HIC-MISO toolkit, said: “Many health organizations are beginning to understand the importance of cybersecurity information sharing but don’t know where to start.

“With cyber-attacks against health organizations increasing in number and severity, one of the most important things an enterprise can do is build awareness and preparedness through community engagement. The HIC-MISO points them in the right direction.”

The launch of HIC-MISO follows a recommendation in a 2017 report by a Department of Health and Human Services advisory group, the Healthcare Industry Cybersecurity Task Force, to improve cybersecurity information sharing in the healthcare sector.

A key objective of the matrix is to make it easy for smaller healthcare organizations, which may lack the resources to implement a first-rate cybersecurity system, to engage with the cybersecurity information and defensive tips that are being shared. 

More help is on its way, according to Bill Hagestad, co-lead of the task group behind the new matrix.  

Hagestad said: “The Task Group recognized the broad range of budgets and capabilities across the sector, and accordingly we will begin work to supplement the HIC-MISO with a guide for how organizations can establish an information sharing management structure appropriate to their enterprise size, resources, and risk profile.”