INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mitch Parker has one of Indiana most critical jobs.
As chief information security officer for Indiana University Health, Parker oversees
cybersecurity for more than 30,000 employees at 18 hospitals across the state, along with countless numbers of computers, workstations and
medical devices, making it the largest health system in Indiana — and the United States.
Indiana University Health is tasked with helping
patients recover and maintain their health, but Parker job is keeping their data safe
In our discussion, he discussed the state of medical devices, his security team priorities and why — when an organization is so big —
communication is absolutely key.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
We&re talking to chief security officers to
learn more about their work, promote best practices that don''t hamper growth and share insights from some of the industry most experienced
security professionals.
TechCrunch: You&ve been at IU Health for a little over three years
Multiple hospitals, thousands of staff, a range of threats and no two days are the same
What the secret sauce?
Mitch Parker: The organization is significantly more receptive to working together towards cybersecurity solutions
than when I first got here
A lot of it I&ve found comes down to just taking the time to understand your customers& needs
I align everything the security team does with our core mission and values and with purpose, excellence, team and compassion
We don''t talk about cybersecurity first
We talk about, how do we improve healthcare, and how do we provide a better patient experience? And we ask, how do we assist in fulfilling
our customers& needs?
So, in a few words, what your approach to cybersecurity across the various teams at IU Health?
Cybersecurity is
Healthcare threats change, too
Three years ago we were talking about Ebola [virus] and now we&re talking about new disease threats
Just as our organization has to adapt, cybersecurity has to adapt in the same way
When I first got here, the organization understood that they had a need but didn''t feel they had a valued business partner to work with
That partnership is more important than the threat of the week.
