Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2026. Read them in this 18th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By Erik Littlejohn, CEO, CloudWave
In 2026, emerging cybersecurity trends will reshape how healthcare organizations approach data protection and patient care. As the threat landscape evolves faster than traditional defenses can keep pace, healthcare leaders will need to prioritize cyber resilience, artificial intelligence-powered security solutions, and staying ahead of the curve to safeguard patient care. From the dissolution of traditional security perimeters to the rise of managed security partnerships, this year’s predictions highlight the critical steps healthcare organizations must take to ensure the security and integrity of their critical systems and data, as well as recognize cybersecurity as a core patient safety function.
Cyber Resilience Will Replace Uptime as the New Benchmark
The healthcare IT industry will begin to witness a shift in 2026, from traditional uptime metrics to cyber resilience, moving from “how often are we up?” to “how quickly can we recover?” Resilience will become a measurable service outcome.
Recognizing that cyberattacks can have clinical and financial implications, healthcare organizations will increasingly prioritize resilience over uptime. New regulatory proposals, such as the HIPAA 72-hour rule, solidify this. If adopted, the rule would require healthcare organizations to restore critical data such as EHR systems within 72 hours of a cyberattack or system failure. This proposed ruling aims to ensure minimal downtime and uninterrupted patient care by requiring organizations to have robust backup and recovery plans for electronic protected health information (ePHI) and other critical systems. In the Epic space, the concept of isolated recovery environments (IREs) is gaining traction. These environments provide a subset of essential EHR functions to enable clinicians to provide continuous care during disruptions.
Healthcare organizations will need to assess their current cybersecurity posture and develop comprehensive risk and recovery plans to effectively prepare for and respond to emerging threats. This approach includes:
- Conducting thorough risk assessments and tabletop exercises to identify gaps and deficiencies
- Implementing managed security services such as disaster recovery, cloud hosting, and backup solutions to ensure compliance while implementing a thorough recovery plan for rapid restoration
- Providing proactive technologies such as continuous monitoring and threat detection to prevent cyber events
As cyber resilience becomes the new benchmark, healthcare boards and CISOs will treat cybersecurity as a core patient safety function, not just an IT risk. Resilience will be measured by prioritizing continuity of care and trust. I predict that organizations will shift their focus from compliance to demonstrable resilience, driving investments in cybersecurity and IT infrastructure.
AI-Driven Attacks Will Outpace Traditional Defenses in Healthcare
Cybercriminals are now operationalizing AI to automate reconnaissance, bypass traditional, signature-based identity controls, and craft highly convincing phishing and social engineering attempts. Alarmingly, these new AI-powered attack methodologies can also adapt dynamically to avoid detection.
The high value of protected health information (PHI) and financial data, along with historical underinvestment in security, make healthcare organizations prime targets for attackers. AI allows bad actors to more effectively scale attacks across dozens or hundreds of organizations, exploit vulnerabilities in vendor ecosystems and unmonitored endpoints, customize attacks for specific EHRs, care systems, or IoT/medical devices, and launch sophisticated ransomware campaigns with minimal human involvement. This increasingly makes many healthcare organizations vulnerable, as they often operate with numerous legacy systems, heavy vendor dependencies, and limited IT staff and 24/7 monitoring capabilities.
By 2026, the speed of AI-enhanced cyberattacks will outpace traditional cybersecurity defenses and human-led detection capabilities, requiring a paradigm shift towards autonomous/semi-autonomous AI-powered security solutions in the healthcare sector. This includes real-time detection and response technologies that move beyond traditional defenses, such as AI-powered endpoint detection and response (EDR) to help detect behavioral anomalies instantly, as well as managed detection and response (MDR) services with automated correlation to enhance threat detection and response capabilities. Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) solutions can also automate containment and incident response.
24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC) oversight, including continuous monitoring and validation of alerts, can help prevent security breaches. Implementing Zero Trust models that leverage identity and device behavior can provide an additional layer of security.
To stay ahead of AI-driven threats, healthcare organizations ultimately must prioritize AI-powered security solutions and autonomous defense models. By doing so, they can protect sensitive patient data and maintain the trust of their customers.
The Traditional Perimeter Dissolves: OT, IoMT, and Clinical Devices Become the New Frontier of Healthcare
The traditional security perimeter is dissolving in healthcare as the convergence of IT, operational technology (OT), and the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) expands the attack surface. With medical devices and equipment increasingly connected to networks, healthcare organizations must now secure a vast array of devices, from infusion pumps to pacemakers, that were previously isolated. The patient’s home is also becoming a new frontier in healthcare security, as more care is delivered remotely and medical devices are used in non-traditional settings.
Securing OT and IoMT devices poses unique challenges, including complexity, as many medical devices were not designed with security in mind, making them vulnerable to cyber threats. Healthcare organizations also often lack visibility into the devices connected to their networks, making it difficult to detect and respond to security incidents. Furthermore, cyber threats to OT and IoMT devices can have serious consequences for patient safety.
To address these challenges, healthcare organizations will need to adopt a new security approach that spans from the data center to the patient’s home. This will require:
- Comprehensive visibility: Healthcare organizations need to have real-time visibility into all devices connected to their networks, including OT and IoMT devices.
- Risk-based security: Healthcare organizations need to prioritize security based on risk, focusing on the devices and systems that are most critical to patient care.
- Collaboration and partnership: Healthcare organizations will need to work closely with device manufacturers, security vendors, and other stakeholders to ensure the security of OT and IoMT devices.
By adopting a comprehensive, collaborative approach to security, healthcare organizations can protect patient safety and maintain trust as the traditional cybersecurity perimeter evolves.
Hybrid Cloud Evolves into Clinical Cloud Federation for Unified Security
As healthcare organizations continue to adopt hybrid cloud strategies that blend on-prem, private, and public clouds, they will increasingly require unified control, visibility, and compliance across these disparate environments. Fragmented visibility is a significant barrier to security and compliance. Security and operations centers (SOCs) and managed security services can provide unified monitoring and threat detection across EHR, endpoint, and cloud environments, enabling a “visibility-first” security model.
The Clinical Cloud Federation will become a reality, enabling healthcare organizations to manage their complex IT ecosystems more easily and securely. By adopting a visibility-first security approach, healthcare organizations will gain real-time insight into their entire IT ecosystem, enabling them to detect and respond to threats more effectively and reduce the risk of data breaches and compliance violations.
This approach will become critical in a multi-cloud world where visibility across EHR, cloud apps, and legacy systems determines resilience.
Managed Security Partnerships Replace Internal/DIY Healthcare Cybersecurity Models
Talent shortages and technology complexity are making in-house IT management unsustainable, driving healthcare organizations to seek external expertise to manage their cybersecurity needs. As a result, Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) will become increasingly popular among hospitals and health systems.
By 2026, it is predicted that more than half of mid-sized hospitals will rely on MSSPs for 24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC) coverage, cloud monitoring, and compliance management. This shift is driven by the need for:
- Expertise: MSSPs offer specialized knowledge and access to top talent, enabling healthcare organizations to stay up to date on the latest security threats and technologies.
- Cost Efficiency: Partnering with MSSPs can help reduce costs associated with hiring and training security personnel, investing in infrastructure, and maintaining compliance.
- Enhanced Security: MSSPs provide 24/7 monitoring, threat detection, and incident response, ensuring that healthcare organizations are better protected against cyber threats.
Healthcare leaders will look for dedicated partners who can bridge cybersecurity, compliance, and cloud modernization, delivering enterprise-level protection tailored to healthcare realities. This enables healthcare organizations to focus on providing high-quality patient care while maintaining the security and integrity of their critical systems and data.
Balancing Innovation with Security and Compliance as AI Adoption Accelerates
As AI use continues to grow in the healthcare industry, organizations will need to prioritize transparency, governance, security, and compliance to mitigate risks. Ensuring that AI systems are designed with security and privacy in mind is crucial, as is providing users with a clear understanding of AI-driven decisions.
The growing demand for AI solutions that meet strict regulatory requirements will present a significant opportunity for cybersecurity innovation. Examples include advanced cyber defense technologies, such as AI-powered scanning tools that can help protect patient data and privacy by detecting and preventing unauthorized access to sensitive information, including within large language models (LLMs). Another area of growth has been the emergence of healthcare-specific AI risk assessment models and HIPAA-focused LLMs that help organizations navigate ongoing privacy and security complexities. I expect to see increased development of additional LLMs and AI products specifically designed for the healthcare industry, with built-in compliance and security features.
This new wave of tools will help enable healthcare organizations to successfully harness the power of AI while safeguarding their data and maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements.
Hospitals Intensify Focus on ROI and Total Cost of Ownership
The lingering effects of supply chain disruptions, legislative uncertainty, and economic fluctuations have increasingly placed financial strain on many healthcare organizations. As hospitals continue to face pressure on operating margins and finances, they will increasingly prioritize cost savings in 2026. Many will look for new efficiencies while scrutinizing their IT investments, seeking to optimize total cost of ownership and maximize ROI.
One way to achieve these efficiency goals is through a strategic managed services solution. By partnering with experienced providers, hospitals and health systems can offload non-core functions, reduce staffing costs, and tap into specialized healthcare expertise. This approach allows healthcare organizations to benefit from economies of scale, predictable expenses, and access to cutting-edge technologies without the associated capital outlays.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erik oversees the operations and delivery of cloud-based managed services and cybersecurity solutions, with the goal of creating value and driving digital transformation for CloudWave’s healthcare customers. Erik brings a deep understanding of healthcare information technology implementation and operations.
