By Janet Vogel, Chief Information Security Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, HHS
Twitter: @HHSGov
The recently-opened Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) has been buzzing with the sound of industry collaboration and coordination. HC3 will host tours, and brief stakeholder organizations to share capabilities and services.
HC3 strengthens coordination and information sharing within the health care and public health sector and cultivates cybersecurity resilience by providing timely and actionable cybersecurity intelligence to health organizations.
HC3’s coordinating role with the health and public health sector is supported by two prominent cybersecurity information sharing organizations, the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (H-ISAC)and the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST). HC3 is working with these organizations to understand the cyber threats faced by the sector as well as cyber threat patterns and trends to provide information and approaches on how the sector can better prepare and respond to these cyber threats.
“The HC3 coordination center reinforces our joint goal and mission, to protect the sector from cyber attacks. We have been meeting with the team there to strengthen cross-collaboration and coordination between HC3 and its partners,” said Denise Anderson, President and CEO of H-ISAC. “We look forward to continued engagement with HC3.”
Carl Anderson, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at HITRUST, noted that “When the HC3 function was announced, we were uncertain about how they would fit into the outreach and education on cybersecurity for the public health sector. Over the past several months, we recognized that they play a vital role because of their ability to detect cyber threats on such a broad scale, and translate those vulnerabilities into clear countermeasures for healthcare organizations. We now see HC3 as a valuable asset in the fight against cybercrimes.”
In the next several months, HC3 will host tours with various stakeholder organizations in support of the Department of Health and Human Services’ cybersecurity mission.
These recent stakeholder visits mark the beginning of a working relationship within the sector, which will allow HC3 to be a key contributor across the healthcare cybersecurity ecosystem.
To request further information in relation to HC3, please send an email to HC3@hhs.gov.
This article was originally published on the HHS blog and is republished here with permission.