Understanding The Notion of My Journey Into Healthcare Cybersecurity ™

Thank you to Aisha Berry for sharing her blog.
Aisha Berry, "Data Is The Next Patient!"(TM)
Founder and Principal Consultant, CyberSec Health Consulting
data@cybersechealth.com
www.cybersechealth.com

Understanding The Notion of My Journey Into Healthcare Cybersecurity ™
By Aisha Berry

Even though STEM was not a household term, introducing the STEM mindset was single digit at a very early age. My youngest uncle is excellent at math and left me with a great impression. On a consistent and continuous basis throughout the years, I was questioned randomly on addition, subtraction, division, yet with great emphasis on multiplication. Also, my youngest uncle introduced me to technology, followed by a discussion. Being a great fan, I on look as my youngest uncle completed his homework and couldn't understand the math he was performing. I was intrigued, confused, cock-eyed, and had headaches. When he wasn't around, I perused the pages of his assignments and seen various formulas yet became intimidated by his assignments. Today, my uncle has an engineering degree and works in cybersecurity.

As a freshman, while maintaining a passion for math, I was selected to attend a STEM-focused program, where I lived on a college campus for 2 months and received a biweekly stipend of $300. There were several tracks, yet I focused on math and technology. Alas, C Programming is the code I learned and had no clue; this was new. Coding was so cool and frustrating, and establishing a love-hate relationship was on the horizon with C-Programming. However, I continued to embark on C-Programming throughout high school. Exciting to have executed a program with no errors, but sometimes my code didn't run due to a missing period or asterisk, and I realized, meh….., this might not be for me. I bargained with myself continuously and realized embarking on a new journey into healthcare.

Briefly, I worked as a carpenter's apprentice in between those uncertain times. I rehabilitated public housing and worked as a math instructor to prepare people for union tests interested in becoming unionized tradesperson.

Becoming a CNA was just a steppingstone to achieve my true goal of becoming a nurse. I received my Associate's Degree in Cultural Science and Technology, followed by attending nursing school. After working in diverse nursing and healthcare settings, including technical roles, I sought out change and someway intertwined my passion for healthcare and technology to create one role. Before healthcare cybersecurity became a phenomenon, human error in cybersecurity was not at the forefront. Correlating the tasks performed wasn't considered a risk, resulting in vulnerabilities related to work habits, staffing, and outdated hardware, to name a few, which have occurred for years. Unbeknownst to employees, they were unaware of placing their organization at risk. Patient care and patient safety are the focus, and not network security, in healthcare. When raising a concern or inquired about certain security practices within my place of employment, it was ignored because, of course, what do I know? I am only a nurse.

During my nursing career, I returned to school and received my BSc in Computer Network, Cybersecurity, with a Digital Forensics focus. Also, I just completed my Master's in Digital Forensics and Cyber Investigations. I created my dream role and established my business as a consultant from a healthcare worker or institution's mindset and wanted to assist the organization in the challenges they face as healthcare workers. Because I understand that healthcare faces security challenges daily, your specific needs with a goal to improve cyber hygiene while maintaining your focus on quality healthcare for your patients, and impress the importance of maintaining integrity, preventing vulnerabilities, mitigating risks by diagnosing, treat, and further prevent cybersecurity challenges to your data's health.