Rural hospitals understand adversity as leaders are always dealing with pressures like tight operating margins and limited resources, especially when it comes to cybersecurity budgets. As these hospitals push to deliver care in some of the nation’s most underserved regions, cybersecurity challenges are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
A recent survey by Black Book Research confirms what many rural health leaders already know: most small and rural hospitals lack the staffing, funding, and infrastructure to protect patient data and systems. With cybersecurity budgets already stretched thin, many organizations struggle to keep pace with the growing number of threats.
In this blog, we explore key findings from Black Book’s 2025 Cybersecurity Readiness survey and how Fortified Health Security is helping rural hospitals maximize the value of their cybersecurity budgets.
Cybersecurity Readiness Survey
Black Book Research recently shared the results of its Q1/Q2 Cybersecurity Readiness survey of hospital administrators and IT leaders at 187 rural hospitals.
“This year’s findings confirm that the majority of small and rural hospitals lack the staffing, funding, and infrastructure to defend themselves against increasingly sophisticated attacks,” says Doug Brown, founder of Black Book Research.
Sixteen percent of the hospitals surveyed are delaying or reducing cybersecurity budgets and investments due to pending Medicaid cuts. As cyberattacks increase in frequency and sophistication, these hospitals face operational disruptions, patient safety risks, and financial ruin.
“If not urgently addressed, this cybersecurity gap threatens the health and privacy of millions of rural Americans,” adds Brown. “Strategic partnerships, grant-supported modernization efforts, and scalable managed security services must become immediate national priorities.”
Key Findings
The Black Book survey highlights several areas where rural hospitals face current challenges due to limited cybersecurity budgets and resources:
- Nearly 75% of rural facilities have inadequate cybersecurity budgets and infrastructure to guard against targeted cyberattacks.
- About 60% of those hospitals lack 24/7 threat monitoring or a dedicated security operations center (SOC), relying instead on untrained general IT staff for incident response.
- More than two-thirds of these hospitals do not employ a full-time Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) or dedicated cybersecurity leader.
- More than half have not conducted a formal cybersecurity risk assessment in the past year, despite federal HIPAA mandates.
- In the last 18 months, 41% of these facilities have experienced malware or ransomware incidents, yet often lack effective backup systems or established recovery protocols.
- 82% of these hospitals acknowledged falling short of meeting NIST Cybersecurity Framework standards required for healthcare organizations.
Ongoing Challenges and Areas for Growth
Looking deeper into the survey results, several other challenges emerge that rural hospitals need to address:
- More than half of the hospitals surveyed operate outdated systems such as Windows Server 2012, unsupported medical devices, or non-upgradable EHR modules, creating glaring vulnerabilities.
- About 70% of these rural hospitals earmark less than 4% of total IT spend to cybersecurity because of more urgent clinical priorities.
- Over half of these facilitieshave been denied cyber liability insurance coverage (or had it reduced) due to insufficient security standards.
- Only 28% of these hospitals have a tested disaster recovery and incident response plan, leaving the majority vulnerable to rapid escalation during cyberattacks.
Yes, these challenges are serious. But with the right partners, strategic planning, and access to tailored services, rural hospitals can make progress in strengthening their cybersecurity programs.
Essential Partners for Rural Hospitals
The researchers discovered that there are five vendors who have emerged as essential cybersecurity partners for rural hospitals, and Fortified Health Security is one of them.
The study revealed that Fortified’s services align well with rural hospitals’ operational and budgetary constraints, and it earned high satisfaction scores across 18 key performance indicators.
The hospital leaders hailed Fortified for its specialized healthcare cybersecurity consulting and managed security services, as well as its expertise in supporting rural hospitals through risk assessments, compliance programs, and ongoing threat mitigation.
Your Cybersecurity Budget: Making Every Dollar Count
Since cybersecurity budgets at rural hospitals are either flat or declining, it’s imperative to spend every dollar wisely. As the Black Book study shows, Fortified has the expertise and experience to help rural hospitals strengthen their cybersecurity readiness in the difficult years ahead.
Contact us today to discover how Fortified can help you enhance your cybersecurity posture.
