War room

Over the years, Microsoft hasn’t developed a good reputation for security, making healthcare executives hesitant to use their programs for their perceived vulnerability.  Yet during a “State of Security” address at the Microsoft Cloud Forum two days ago, CEO Satya Nadella revealed her intentions to reverse this reputation through a tougher approach to fighting threats.  Called a “cybersecurity war room”, this initiative is intent on improving healthcare security across the board for such key issues as protection of patent information, mobile device security and the advancement of Electronic Health Record standardization.  During the address, Nadella outlined how security could be improved in the Microsoft world.  There was recently an article I read in Healthcare IT News, where the author outlined Nadella’s proposed security strategy.  Listed below are some of the bigger points of this strategy, as outlined in the article:

Cyber defense operations center: There will be a new facility that brings together security response experts from across the US to help protect, detect and ultimately respond to threats in real-time.  Staffed with teams at all hours, this center has direct access to thousands of security professionals, engineers, program managers, developers, data analysts and operations specialists throughout Microsoft to address any potential security threats.

Microsoft enterprise cybersecurity group: Microsoft will use a group of security experts to deliver security solutions, expertise and services that empower organizations to modernize their IT platforms and keep data safe.  This group will offer security assessments while also providing ongoing monitoring and threat detection and incident response capabilities.

New Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS): The new EMS will support the management of mobile application without needing to enroll the device.  It will provide features to help IT both protect and manage corporate applications and data on any Windows, iOS and Android device.

Box and Adobe Support: The companies will be offering new Microsoft Intune native apps on iOS and Android to help prevent from unintentional sharing of confidential corporate data.