Hospitals sorely lack cybersecurity workforce, need staff-wide engagement, experts say

A widespread shortage of cybersecurity staff, along with measures to thwart hackers and protect sensitive provider and patient information, continue to converge and keep healthcare providers highly vulnerable to cyberattacks. But experts say that with total buy-in from all levels of staff, clear processes and asset awareness, victory is within the industry's reach. A recent report by CSO Online said there are 1 million job openings among the cybersecurity workforce in 2016, and projected that number to climb to 1.5 million by 2019. "All of a sudden something we've always known is important became very publicly important so now people are scrambling. So absolutely there's a shortage," said Kevin Johnson, cybersecurity expert and CEO of Secure Ideas, a cybersecurity firm.