The healthcare industry has been forever changed by digital transformation. Innovation in the medical space has led to advances in new treatments as well as cost savings that do not negatively impact the quality of care. The added benefit: faster, better networks have allowed for the growth of telemedicine, bringing quality care to thousands who did not have access before.
An unfortunate side effect has been that cybercriminals are targeting the healthcare sector now more than ever. As a result, cybersecurity is critical to the success of health systems, which are increasingly at risk as cyber criminals look to steal patient data or hold internal resources for ransom. The vulnerabilities that enable these attacks exist in any vertical, but in the case of healthcare, they can be life-threatening.
Here are three areas that healthcare IT and security teams should focus on to improve their security practices:
Prioritizing the Security of Telemedicine
Online tools and medical IoT devices for monitoring patient health are now ubiquitous – they are even used in surgery. Additionally, the FCC’s proposed Connected Care Pilot Telehealth Program seeks to expand telemedicine to veterans and low-income areas of the country. Patient portals give people more control over their healthcare and better access to critical information. This wave of medical digital transformation cannot exist, however, without ensuring that data and connections are kept safe from cyber criminals.
Healthcare IT teams face several challenges when it comes to combatting cybercrime. To fight their battle, they must have visibility into the extended network architecture, data, and operating systems, as well as the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices on the network. Two of the most important tools for achieving this level of visibility are network access control (NAC) and cyber threat assessment programs (CTAPs).
Network Access Control
NAC solutions enable secure authentication and onboarding, the monitoring of connected devices, and the issuing of an automated response should there be any malicious behavior detected. These solutions can also manage and enforce access policies across networks to ensure that data can only be accessed by users and devices from permitted segments.
Cyber Threat Assessment Programs
CTAPs play an important role in the identification of network vulnerabilities. Information accrued during an assessment can be leveraged to build and validate current architectures that directly address any sort of vulnerability. This visibility can also enable security teams to bolster their telehealth initiatives and effectively allocate resources as needed.
Defending Against Insider Threats
Cyber threats do not just come from outside the organization. Insider threats – whether by malicious insiders, negligent users, or careless users – can be even more dangerous than external threats. The reason: these threats not only come from inside the secure network perimeter, but also use different methods than external threats, creating additional challenges for healthcare security teams in the monitoring and mitigation of threats.
User training and network segmentation are an important start. But protecting against insider threats also requires full visibility into the network, as well as a robust set of benchmarks against which to compare threat data – things that have proven to be difficult in the healthcare space so far.
Defending the Internet of Medical Things
Connected medical devices are a fundamental component of coordinated healthcare. Many patients rely on them to maintain their health, even when they cannot visit the doctor – think heart monitors, blood sugar level regulation, and chronic disease management. Unfortunately, these IoMT devices are innately insecure and vulnerable to the same types of attacks that impact other technologies, putting patients’ health – and lives – at risk.
This issue is made all the more complicated because cyber criminals do not need to be within close physical proximity to compromise a connected medical device. Upon gaining access to a healthcare network – whether through a misconfigured or unsecured device, or vulnerable cloud data service or health system application – cybercriminals often have access to all devices connected to that network. With this in mind, it is imperative that the healthcare industry, including the developers of these IoMT devices, take steps to secure this technology moving forward.
Final Thoughts
The healthcare industry cannot afford to be lax with security as they rapidly adopt digital transformation. The patients who rely upon the health system for critical healthcare services, whether in person or remotely, are put at risk every time they make use of telemedicine offerings, use IoMT devices, or access data via an unsecure connection.
The solution for healthcare security is multi-pronged. It requires cross-network visibility, prioritized threat management, real-time threat assessment, and a strategy for remediation should an event occur. The key to this approach is to plan ahead, and to leverage threat analysis to secure against both internal and external threats to the healthcare facility.
Learn more about enabling the latest advances in patient care while protecting against cyberattacks with Fortinet healthcare cybersecurity solutions.
Fortinet Announced as Break-Away Sponsor for HISA 2021
Fortinet sponsors the Healthcare Innovation Summit Africa 2021 which take place on 17 to 18 November 2021. Don’t miss out on Fortinet’s Keynote session on 17 November at 12h30 SAST by Paul Williams, Country Manager SADC and Indian Ocean Islands on the Robustness of the Healthcare Network.
Be sure to also visit our virtual booth, where the Fortinet staff will be ready to answer all your questions.
By Staff Writer.
