We need to take scapegoating out of cyber says Phil Huggins

Phil Huggins told the cyber security audience at Rewired24 that we “need to take scapegoating out of cyber” and understand how cyber incidents happen and how things go wrong.

Speaking in the keynote session on the Cyber Security Stage on day one in Birmingham, titled ‘Tales from the cyber security frontline’, the national CISO for health and social care at NHS England said that the “fear of scapegoating is preventing some cyber incidents being reported” in the NHS.

He added that people need to understand how things go wrong in order to help avoid similar incidents in the future.

Huggins also focused on the importance of “having the right people in the right places making the right decisions”. He said the “workforce will make a greater impact than any technology on cyber” and confirmed that NHSE are looking to increase the cyber workforce on the frontline.

NHS England are encouraging ICSs to produce cyber strategies, Huggins said, and will shortly be publishing a cyber strategy toolkit; however, he stressed that he is “not expecting an overnight success”. Investment, both locally and nationally, will be increased over the next five years, he added.

Huggins was joined by Cathy O’Keefe, deputy director of security (delivery), cyber operations at NHSE, who shared the view that the workforce are the key to making the health sector more cyber resilient.

“We need to invest in people and invest in training,” she said. “We should never underestimate the human element of cyber.” She confirmed that NHSE regional leads have been provided a cyber security response exercise which is to be rolled out across all ICSs.

Elsewhere on day one, Devesh Sinha, CCIO at Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Foundation Trust, has told the audience on the Digital Leadership and Teams Stage that trusts “need to create a clinical informatics team that mirrors the organisation and journey”.

Digital Health Rewired is taking place at the NEC in Birmingham 12-13 March. The programme is available here. You can still register to attend on site at Hall 8 of the NEC.