The Business Case for Cybersecurity in Digital Health Ecosystems

As digital health programs grow, the cybersecurity burden grows with them. For payors, employers, health systems, and digital health partners, a single breach can cost millions—yet the price of prevention is often far lower. In healthcare, the average cost of a cybersecurity incident is estimated at USD 9.8 million in 2024, more than double the average across other sectors. (Source: Deloitte). Meanwhile, vendor-related breaches in healthcare average USD 2.75 million per incident, with nearly 10,000 records exposed on average (Source: SecureWorld). And as much as 72 % of healthcare data breaches are traced back to third-party vendors, placing vendor risk squarely in executive and board focus (Source: SecureWorld).

These numbers show that cybersecurity is not a back-office technical problem; it is a strategic investment that protects reputation, continuity, and patient trust. The costs of a breach go far beyond immediate remediation: regulatory penalties, legal liability, customer attrition, operational downtime, and reputational damage all compound over time. In a digital health ecosystem — where interoperability, data exchange, and distributed vendor networks are central — a weakness in any link can destabilize the entire model.

To build a compelling business case for cybersecurity, leaders must shift the conversation away from 'how much do we spend' toward 'how much is at stake.' It becomes essential to compare the marginal cost of enhanced security controls against the potential multi‑million downside of a breach. Equally, digital health vendors and platforms must compete on trust and assurance, not just features and speed. In this light, even incremental investments in threat detection, continuous monitoring, and vendor risk automation can pay dividends in breach prevention, faster containment, and reduced customer churn. Over time, security becomes not just a cost center but a differentiator.

Increased Scrutiny fromHealthcare Boards of Directors

Cybersecurity has now formally moved into the boardroom—and for good reason. Boards are under mounting pressure from regulators, shareholders, and the public to treat cyber risk as a core component of corporate oversight, not merely a technical domain.In the 2025 NACD Public Company Board Practices report, 77 % of directors now discuss the material and financial implications of cyber incidents in board sessions—representing a 25-point jump since 2022 (Source: NACD). Meanwhile, the shift in reporting cadence is telling: organizations that previously only briefed boards after an incident dropped from 20 % in 2024 down to12 % in 2025, while those providing monthly updates rose from 18 % to28 % (Source: Cyber Magazine).

Within healthcare, this scrutiny is especially intense. A high‑impact breach is not just a financial event—it threatens continuity of care, regulatory compliance, and patient safety. Boards are increasingly asking hard questions: What is our mean time to detect and respond? How deeply do we vet our digital health partners and vendors? Can we quantify the business value of security investments? How do we ensure interoperability without compromising guardrails? And how do we translate security metrics into board‑level dashboards that align with fiduciary oversight?

These board expectations magnify the burden on executive leadership and security teams. They require clarity, transparency, and partnership with trusted integrators. When boards demand accountability, leaders need a security architecture they can present confidently—one that shows how vulnerabilities are managed, how vendors are monitored, and how escalation paths are defined. This dynamic makes it more than ever necessary to have a unified, auditable, and scalable platform underpinning digital health programs.

Closing: Solera’s Role inSecure Digital Health at Scale

As we observe Cybersecurity Month, the rising expectations from regulators, shareholders, and boards of directors underscore that cybersecurity in health tech is no longer optional — it is mission critical. In digital health ecosystems, where so many moving parts and external partners converge, the risks multiply. At Solera, we believe that securing this complexity requires embedding security into integration, vendor orchestration, and data flows — not just tacking it on. Our platform gives leadership, CISOs, and boards the visibility, consistency, and assurance they need to confidently scale digital health initiatives. Over Cybersecurity Week and beyond, we invite you to explore how Solera leads at the intersection of security, interoperability, and governance.

To go deeper into how we govern AI and secure evolving health tech landscapes, read more here.

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