For students studying medicine, cybersecurity might not seem important. After all, their future work is to provide patient care. But what about the patient data shared and stored in electronic systems, the usage of tech devices and telemedicine? These modern techniques increase the risk of cyber attacks. In a McKinsey & Company report, the healthcare sector was second after financial services for the most data breaches and financial loss of $9.8 million per incident in 2024. Besides financial loss, data breaches interfere with patient care. A hacker could manipulate patient data, like lab results, leading to wrong diagnosis or delayed procedures, for example. To mitigate this risk, healthcare students must know how to identify and respond to phishing and ransomware. Even knowing how to open unknown files can promote data privacy and prevent financial losses. In this post, we’ll discuss innovative ways to teach medical students cybersecurity, from using real-world examples to gamification, and hands-on practicals.
Raise Awareness Using Real-Life Examples
To equip healthcare workers with cybersecurity skills, raising awareness is a priority. Best way to achieve this goal is by providing security awareness training (SAT). This is a proactive approach that empowers learners to recognize, prevent, and respond to threats successfully. The security awareness training in healthcare benefits go beyond protecting digital infrastructures against cyberattacks. It enhances compliance with data security regulations like HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). It also protects third-party vendors from risks, improves incident response, and fosters a culture of security.
One way to implement SAT is through real-world scenarios. Talking about recent cyber incidents that have occurred in hospitals is a perfect start. Think of high-profile incidents like Change Healthcare ransomware attack and Medisecure data breach. Discussing such case studies can help learners understand the risks tied to phishing emails and why they should protect personal information, for instance. Show data breaches that have compromised patient information, like personal identification, insurance details, and social security numbers. Using cybersecurity case studies and current news helps students gain insights into effective strategies for cyber threat management. Aside from case studies, educators could make cybersecurity discussions relatable to personal experiences to increase students’ interests. For example, ask learners to review their online habits. Do they protect their social media accounts? What do they do when they receive suspicious emails? Relating cybersecurity topics to daily online experiences makes learning meaningful.
Prioritize Hands-on Cybersecurity Training
Research shows learners remember 75% of information through hands-on practice, compared to 5% from lectures. Often, students engaged in active learning techniques like cyber labs and simulations outperform those who focus on textbooks or visual demonstrations (traditional lectures). What hands-on cybersecurity practices do is expose future healthcare specialists to scenarios they can expect to encounter. Examples of practical activities medical students can engage in include configuring firewalls, assessing network traffic, and performing risk assessment. Students can focus on setting up secure networks or respond to simulated phishing attempts and ransomware attacks, for example, which helps secure devices and data. Using platforms designed to simulate ransomware and phishing attacks, learners can recognize and react to cyber threats correctly.
Gamify Cybersecurity Lessons
Conventional cybersecurity teaching strategies, like classroom lectures and e-learning modules, can be lengthy and boring. Sometimes these learning methods don’t highlight the urgency of cybersecurity. Providing compliance-based learning for students preparing to enter the healthcare sector can be difficult or even ignored. There’s a solution to this problem, though, gamification. Adding game elements to cybersecurity awareness training helps bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical activities. This is ideal for learners who don’t respond positively to long-hour lectures in class or online. So, instead of educators plunging learners into a 20 or 30-minute theory course on phishing, why not engage them in a phishing simulation game? A 10-minute phishing attack game enables students to think critically: decode untrustworthy messages and social engineering tactics through phone conversations. Gamified training can be more interesting when reward elements like points, badges, levels, and leaderboards are added.
Trying to grasp complex concepts of cybersecurity in a 30-minute lecture while still studying medicine can be daunting. For individuals who don’t react positively to passive theoretical lessons, they get bored. That said, incorporating innovative teaching methods beyond the books in cybersecurity helps future healthcare experts learn how to secure medical devices and digital files. Some smart ways to equip healthcare students with cybersecurity skills include using real-world scenarios of cyber attacks. Gamification and hands-on practice are perfect for recognizing different cyber threats and how to mitigate them to prevent data breaches, hospital reputation, and costly digital infrastructure damage.
