As we wrap up another year and get ready for 2026 to begin, it is once again time for everyone’s favorite annual tradition of Health IT Predictions! We reached out to our incredible Healthcare IT Today Community to get their insights on what will happen in the coming year, and boy, did they deliver. We, in fact, got so many responses to our prompt this year that we have had to narrow them down to just the best and most interesting. Check out the community’s predictions down below and be sure to follow along as we share more 2026 Health IT Predictions!
Check out our community’s healthcare cybersecurity predictions:
Erik Littlejohn, CEO at CloudWave
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.
Ron Cherry, Director, Cloud Cybersecurity & GRC at Nordic
The near-term landscape on healthcare cybersecurity is one where the threat curve steepens, but so do the solutions. Ransomware remains the apex predator, now paired with double-extortion, AI-sharpened phishing, and supply-chain weak points that turn one vendor lapse into a systemwide outage. Expect more DDoS and business-disrupting incidents aimed at critical operations, not just data theft.
To manage this evolving risk, successful defense models will shift from castle-and-moat to ‘everywhere perimeter’ approaches. Zero Trust will stop being a buzzword and become an operating model: no implicit trust, tight identity and privilege controls, encrypted-by-default data flows, and security policies that recognize remote work, mobile, and medical IoT as core operational needs. Successful systems will pair cyber vaults with isolated recovery environments to emphasize an approach that minimizes risk and maximizes learning and program evolution.
AI will also be elevated in cybersecurity discussions as it cuts both ways; attackers will increasingly use it to automate reconnaissance and lures while health systems will counter with agentic AI SOCs that triage, contain, and escalate threats, augmenting lean cybersecurity teams, especially in rural settings. In addition, boards will get savvier, tying budget approvals for cyber insurance to evidence of adequate and forward-looking controls. Finally, vendor consolidation becomes a new risk vector with the evolution of advanced technology solutions and swelling tech stacks, pushing CISOs to demand roadmaps with built-in AI and exit ramps to avoid lock-in.
David Cottingham, President at rf IDEAS
Healthcare organizations continue to face an unprecedented cybersecurity burden. In 2024 alone, more than 276 million patient records were compromised in cyber attacks targeting healthcare organizations, a figure that equates to 758,000 exposed records every single day. It’s no surprise that more than half of health systems are increasing their investments in cybersecurity, from strengthening authentication workflows to expanding IT teams. Healthcare’s unique combination of strict regulation, sensitive data, and constant access needs has made it one of the most aggressive adopters of security-focused technology and makes it all the more critical to continue ensuring these systems safeguard patient information without slowing down care.
Anthony Cusimano, Solutions Director at Object First
Healthcare will face a high volume of cyberattacks in 2026. In both education and healthcare, one of the greatest cybersecurity vulnerabilities lies in the challenge of integrating legacy systems with modern digital infrastructure. These sectors often operate on a patchwork of technologies, such as mainframes for patient records or student information systems, SaaS platforms for scheduling or learning management, and custom-built tools for diagnostics or administrative tasks that rarely interoperate. This lack of integration creates security silos, inconsistent authentication and logging, and fragmented backup protocols, all of which increase the attack surface.
Compounding the issue, many institutions still rely on outdated tape backups or under-tested cloud appliances, leading to slow recovery times and compliance risks. As these sectors modernize, the inability to securely bridge old and new systems without introducing complexity or gaps in protection will come to a head in 2026, creating a major cybersecurity concern that bad actors will undoubtedly exploit.
Brent Johnson, Chief Information Security Officer at Bluefin
In 2026, the healthcare industry will expand AI across diagnostics, operations, and patient engagement, but every new model and integration will only widen the attack surface for security threats. The same technology that will make healthcare smarter will only make it more vulnerable. The organizations that lead won’t just be innovating in AI, they’ll secure it properly, proving that progress in healthcare must begin with protection, especially as hackers continue to target patients’ PHI and PII across healthcare channels.
Cabul Mehta, Industry Principal, Healthcare and Life Sciences at Presidio
In 2026, shadow AI will become one of the healthcare industry’s fastest-growing cybersecurity threats. As health systems continue to stall on modernizing their systems, and nearly a quarter (23%) of clinicians turn to workarounds like non-sanctioned AI solutions to complete basic tasks, significant compliance and security risks will be on the rise. These shadow AI tools can help employees move faster in the short term, but they pose major threats to organizations as they lack essential safeguards such as encryption, role-based access controls, and audit trails, ultimately exposing sensitive data to external platforms. As a result, CISOs will need to address internal AI misuse as one of the most urgent security risks in healthcare.
Candice Moschell, Cybersecurity Leader at Crowe LLP
We predict that in the coming year that third-party outages will emerge as the most significant operational resilience risk for healthcare organizations. As more hospitals adopt cloud-hosted EHRs, imaging platforms, specialty diagnostic tools, and telehealth services, they will inherit dependencies that sit completely outside their direct control. This will create conditions where care delivery is disrupted, not because internal systems failed, but because a vendor platform experienced an outage or security event. Leaders will recognize that traditional vendor risk assessments do not go far enough to evaluate how disruptions affect real patient care. Health systems will respond by raising their expectations for vendor resilience.
They will look for validated recovery capabilities, evidence of business service continuity, improved transparency, and contractual requirements for impact tolerances. Vendor assessments will evolve beyond checklists and certifications. Instead, they will examine whether a partner can support sustained patient care during a cyber event or operational failure. This shift will reshape procurement, contracting, and governance models, bringing greater focus to continuity of care across the entire supply chain.
Joe Oleksak, Partner, Cybersecurity Practice at Plante Moran
Despite the growing awareness of vendor-related risks, many healthcare organizations still lack a comprehensive approach to third-party risk management. Too often, vendor security is treated as an afterthought, with responsibilities passed between IT and risk management without a cohesive strategy. In 2026, I hope to see more healthcare organizations take a business-wide approach to vendor risk, including critical partners like EHR vendors, telehealth providers, and medical device manufacturers.
AI will also be a defining factor in 2026, but not in the way many expect. Healthcare organizations that have built strong governance and foundational security practices will thrive, while those that see AI as a quick fix will find themselves more vulnerable than ever. This divergence will create a two-tier system in cybersecurity maturity within the healthcare space, forcing organizations to either adapt or fall behind in protecting patient data and critical systems.
Laxmi Patel, Chief Strategy Officer at Savista
As revenue cycle operations become increasingly digital and interconnected, cybersecurity will move from an IT concern to a core business priority. Protecting patient and financial data will be essential to maintaining trust and uninterrupted cash flow. Providers will invest heavily in advanced security measures such as encryption, multi-factor authentication, and continuous network monitoring. The financial and reputational risks of a breach will push organizations to embed cybersecurity into every layer of the revenue cycle, ensuring that automation and connectivity do not come at the expense of resilience and compliance.
Heather Randall, PhD, Chief Compliance Officer at TrustCommerce, a Sphere company
Throughout 2026, more healthcare organizations will embed security and convenience directly into the patient payment experience by advancing tokenization, validated point-to-point encryption, and fully integrated payment platforms. Zero Trust principles will become more deeply woven into the architecture of these systems, driven by increasing cybersecurity expectations and the need for continuous verification across users, devices, and applications. In parallel, AI-driven anomaly detection and behavioral analytics will further enhance real-time monitoring and risk evaluation within healthcare payment workflows. And as patients seek more flexibility in how they pay, providers will expand secure digital payment options that align with patient preferences, without compromising trust or data protection.
Lance Reid, CEO at Telcion
In 2026, the most valuable investment in healthcare will be secure infrastructure. AI, automation, virtual care, and every patient-facing tool now depend on airtight identity controls and protected data flows. The organizations that put cybersecurity at the center of their strategy will unlock faster adoption, stronger workforce performance, and better financial outcomes. Everyone else will fall behind.
Andrew Speir, Vice President, Advanced Cyber Solution at Core4ce
AI systems will create new breach pathways. APIs connect diagnostic algorithms, cloud-based training environments, processing patient data, and third-party AI vendors’ privileged access. Each integration point represents a potential breach vector. As clinical staff become dependent on AI-driven decision support, system compromise or manipulation becomes life-threatening. Ransomware that disables diagnostic AI or administrative workflows forces impossible choices between patient safety and ransom payment.
Quantum computing also becomes a critical threat, putting genomic data and medical device security at unprecedented risk. Hospitals increasingly store whole genome sequences for precision medicine. These datasets contain lifelong immutable biometric identifiers. Quantum computers could eventually decrypt stored genomic data. Healthcare must prepare for quantum-resistant migration complexity, updating EMRs, medical devices, PACS, pharmacy systems, and lab interfaces.
Dave Bailey, Vice President of Consulting Services at Clearwater Security
In 2026, healthcare will face a new phase of cyber risk as attackers shift from traditional ransomware to fast, quiet data-extortion attacks that steal sensitive information in minutes and pressure organizations with regulatory and reputational fallout. Mid-sized hospitals, ambulatory networks, radiology groups, and behavioral health providers will remain prime targets because they hold high-value data but often lack continuous monitoring or dedicated 24/7 detection capabilities. AI will escalate both sides of the fight- enabling attackers to impersonate staff, bypass MFA, and social-engineer their way in, while pushing defenders to adopt AI-driven detection and threat-hunting to keep pace.
We also expect the most significant compliance shift in twenty years as OCR moves to finalize the updated HIPAA Security Rule, making system-level, ongoing risk analysis a baseline expectation rather than a periodic task. These pressures will force organizations to rethink the fundamentals: identity controls, network segmentation, immutable backups, and continuous threat detection will matter more than any single new technology.
The organizations that thrive in 2026 will be the ones that treat cybersecurity as operational resilience and patient safety, not an IT checkbox. And the ones who invest early in risk analysis, 24/7 monitoring, and practical governance will be best positioned to weather a year defined by speed, sophistication, and very little margin for error.
Andrew Burkus, Senior Director at IQVIA Digital
The volume of data breaches and privacy incidents will make security and transparency defining elements of patient trust in 2026. Health brands will need to reassure consumers that personal data is handled with care, but they must do so without creating anxiety or discouraging digital engagement.
Marketing teams will collaborate more closely with data governance and compliance functions to design educational content that explains privacy protections in simple, confident language. The challenge will be balancing personalization with restraint, ensuring consumers feel understood without feeling monitored. The brands that strike this balance will stand out in an increasingly cautious landscape.
Thank you so much to everyone who took the time out of their day to submit a prediction to us, and thank you to all of you for taking the time to read this article! We could not do this without all of your support. What do you think will happen for Cybersecurity in 2026? Let us know on social media. We’d love to hear from all of you!
Be sure to check out all of Healthcare IT Today’s healthcare Cybersecurity content and our other 2026 Health IT Predictions.
