A United States-based Nigerian health technology professional, Chioma Nsude, has called for a shift in cybersecurity strategies, urging healthcare institutions to adopt human-centric threat modelling to combat rising data breaches.
Presenting her research at the 2025 American Public Health Association conference in Washington, DC, she noted that the increasing frequency of cyberattacks on hospitals is driven by the high value of medical records and the critical nature of clinical operations.
According to a statement made available to PUNCH Healthwise on Friday, her study was titled ‘Mitigating Cyberattacks in U.S. Healthcare Through Human-Centric Cyber Threat Modeling: A 10-Year Analysis of Data Breach Reports (2015–2025)’.
Transitioning from technical vulnerabilities to human factors, Nsude’s study, which analysed a decade of data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, revealed that software upgrades alone are insufficient.
She argued that effective safeguards must account for how healthcare workers interact with digital systems.
She stressed that understanding human behaviour is as vital as installing firewalls to protect sensitive patient information.
“What our findings show is that cybersecurity in healthcare must go beyond firewalls and software upgrades.
“It requires understanding how people interact with systems and designing safeguards that address human behaviour as much as technical risk,” she said.
Furthermore, the researcher, whose career began at Interswitch in Nigeria before she moved to the University of New Haven, highlighted the global significance of her findings for health informatics.
She maintained that by designing accessible digital tools and strengthening health technology infrastructure, the industry can better streamline workflows for medical professionals while ensuring robust data security in an increasingly digital world.
Speaking on the significance of the research, Nsude explained that the study was prompted by the increasing frequency of cyberattacks targeting healthcare institutions across the US.
According to her, hospitals and clinics have become attractive targets because of the high value of medical records and the critical nature of their operations, which often pressure organisations to respond quickly to disruptions.
Giving details on her background, Nsude said her journey into health technology began in Nigeria, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition and gained practical experience in the healthcare sector.
While working in the field, she said she identified gaps in how digital tools were designed for healthcare users and decided to transition into technology.
According to her, my experience in Nigeria’s health tech space inspired me to pursue advanced studies in the United States.
“With a background that combines clinical training, product design, and health informatics research, I’ll continue to work at the intersection of healthcare and technology, focusing on strengthening digital health systems and improving data security within the healthcare industry,” she said.
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