Tech & Innovation in Healthcare

Question: I’m part of a midsize group practice. We’ve been lucky to avoid a cybersecurity incident, but I’m worried that our limited IT resources won’t be able to keep up with the constant stream of emerging threats. Colleagues at other healthcare organizations have told me that they’ve started using MDR for their cybersecurity.

What is MDR and how would it benefit our organization?

Kentucky Subscriber

Answer: Managed detection and response (MDR) is an outsourced cybersecurity service dedicated to seeking out threats and responding to those threats accordingly and in a timely manner. MDR offers end-to-end cybersecurity protection, making it an ideal choice for organizations with a limited IT workforce.

An MDR team consists of security researchers and engineers who monitor their customers’ networks, evaluate cybersecurity incidents, and respond to those incidents once they’re discovered. By moving the threat detection and response coordination to an outside entity, healthcare organizations can focus their security efforts inward, allowing their IT team to develop policies and educate staff on good cybersecurity habits.

With ransomware attacks, phishing scams, and an increasing number of connected devices, the healthcare industry continues to be a prime target for cyberthreat actors. Malicious actors don’t care what your normal business hours are and will strike at any time of the day. An MDR team responds to threats even outside of business hours, to stop the incident before the threat actors can infiltrate deep into your organization’s network and systems.