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October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month—a time to spotlight the invisible infrastructure that keeps healthcare safe, connected and trustworthy. At Surescripts, cybersecurity isn’t just a technical discipline—it’s a mindset embedded in every line of code, every system design and every decision we make.
As Chief Information Security Officer, I see firsthand how our network’s reliability and security work together to protect the health intelligence that powers care decisions across the country. These pillars aren’t just technical achievements—they’re trust signals for every patient, prescriber and pharmacist who depends on us to deliver safe, timely and accurate intelligence.
Healthcare professionals rely on Surescripts for constant access to the data they need to care for patients. That’s why our network is engineered for extraordinarily high availability and resilience. Redundant systems, robust cyber resilience plans and always-on monitoring ensure that critical health information flows without disruption.
In 2024, we maintained 99.995% average network uptime—equivalent to just two minutes of downtime per month. That level of reliability isn’t just impressive—it’s essential to patient safety and care continuity.
Protecting patient data is a responsibility we take seriously. Our network adheres to standards set by leading privacy and security organizations, including the gold standard of cybersecurity: the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. We hold a HITRUST r2 Certification, as well as certifications from the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) and DirectTrust, and participate in an annual SOC 2 Type II audit—affirming our commitment to safeguarding sensitive health information.
We also tightly control access to our network, transmitting only the data needed for agreed-upon use cases. This approach helps us and our partners guard against illicit activity such as fraudulent prescribing, while ensuring that every transaction is secure, purposeful and in service of better patient care.
The stakes have never been higher. In recent years, healthcare has become the most targeted industry for cyberattacks, with breaches impacting millions of patients and threatening the continuity of care. According to a 2024 report from Health-ISAC and the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, there have been 5,558 reported breaches affecting protected health information (PHI), totaling nearly 438 million records compromised—an average of more than 86,000 PHI records exposed every single day over the past 13.5 years. These incidents underscore why cybersecurity must be built into every layer of healthcare infrastructure—not bolted on as an afterthought. When systems fail, patients feel the impact—whether it’s a delayed prescription, a missed diagnosis or a breakdown in communication between care team members.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a reminder that trust doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built—line by line, system by system, decision by decision. At Surescripts, we’re proud to be a partner that healthcare can count on—not just for performance, but for integrity.
Whether you’re a developer, clinician, pharmacist, or administrator, your role in protecting health information matters. Together, we can continue to build a network that’s not only powerful and connected—but also secure, resilient and trustworthy—for the patients at the heart of everything we do.
Join us in building a powerful network with unshakable integrity.
Connect with our team to explore how we can partner to increase patient safety, reduce costs and ensure quality care.
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Dean Riggott Photography
Surescripts
