Cybersecurity & Health IT Gains Traction on the Hill

This past week there was a lot of coverage of cybersecurity measures and their effect on government agencies as well as the private sector. Recent estimates valued the material impact of cybercrime on top U.S. organizations at $171 million dollars annually.  Meanwhile, various federal departments and agencies are starting to mobilize their efforts on cybersecurity.  In addition to cybersecurity threats, health IT is an important issue that has been gaining the attention of inside the beltway audiences.

Study Quantifies How Much Companies Are Losing to Cybercriminals - With the giant Black Hat cybersecurity conference and the always-provocative DefCon hacking conference getting underway in Las Vegas this week, the Ponemon Institute released the results of a first-of-its kind study quantifying how much cybercrime is costing companies. According to USA Today, 45 organizations reported a median annual cost of $3.8 million per organization per year.

Commerce Seeks Comment on How To Bolster Cybersecurity - The Commerce Department released a notice seeking comment from commercial and academic stakeholders on the challenges private sector organizations face in enhancing their own cybersecurity, according to Tech Daily Dose.

Cybersecurity: A Maryland Jobs Priority – Beyond the national landscape, states also are stepping up their cybersecurity efforts.  Maryland is not only taking cyber threats seriously to protect their information, but also to bolster their economy and protect local jobs.  According to the Baltimore Sun, the number of workers in computer systems and related services climbed to 64,900 last month in the state – nearly 5,000 more jobs than in June 2009, according to federal statistics.

Healthcare IT Key to National Health Security Plan - Development of ways to link regional healthcare IT systems, as well as an information plan that maps what data flows, security and standards are needed to ensure real-time communications between health organizations and emergency services, are some of the key elements of a plan for achieving U.S. national health security, Government Health IT reported this week.