A Vision for a Breach Ready Healthcare

Stepping into my role as Senior Vice President & GM of Healthcare and Life Sciences at ColorTokens, I recognize the weight of responsibility. As we mark the announcement, I want to shed light on the challenges healthcare security faces, the solutions we’re committed to delivering, and the direction we plan to take in the coming months.
The Rising Wave of Threats
We have witnessed a dramatic surge in cyberattacks targeting healthcare providers, putting patient outcomes, operational stability, and public trust at risk. In 2024 alone, there were 386 documented cyberattacks on hospitals, with 69% of healthcare facilities facing disruptions in care. A University of Minnesota study even found that amongst admitted patients, it led to a 35% increase in higher mortality rates as a direct consequence of a cyberattack. These numbers reflect how real lives are impacted, underscoring that cybersecurity in healthcare is fundamentally about patient safety.
A case in point is Ascension Healthcare, which suffered a ransomware assault that crippled crucial electronic health records, leading to care delays and an $800 million financial impact. Across the board all organizations have been spending on cybersecurity. Unfortunately, the majority of the spend today is on perimeter-based defenses. Incidents like these emphasize that relying solely on perimeter-based defenses is no longer enough, and that we must seek protection and resiliency through building zero trust and breach ready architectures. Such architectures are built by microsegmentation techniques. Protecting patient data and building resiliency into essential hospital operations must be woven into the very fabric of every hospital.
Over the years, the financial sector had been a primary target for cybercriminals looking for direct monetary gain. Yet tighter regulations and significant investments in advanced security have pushed attackers to seek more vulnerable and critical industries, healthcare being chief among them. Unlike a financial institution that can shut down select services temporarily, a hospital can’t afford downtime when patient care is on the line. This heightened urgency often forces quick ransom payouts, hurting the hospitals financial performance, and more critically incentivizing and emboldening the next round of hackers. The stakes for healthcare organizations hence inherently higher, as any disruption of medical services could literally result in the delay of much needed patient care.
Real-World Solutions with Tangible Impact
At ColorTokens, we prioritize pragmatic solutions that produce measurable outcomes. A recent engagement with one of the nation’s leading children’s hospitals serves as a strong testament. Facing advanced threats that continually bypassed traditional perimeter-based defenses, this institution opted to build a zero trust network, using ColorToken’s microsegmentation technology to shield high-value systems like Epic and Cerner.
By deploying our Xshield Enterprise Microsegmentation Platform, they were able to build a zero trust network consisting of dynamic micro-perimeters that curtailed unauthorized lateral movement and safeguarded sensitive data. Within a matter of weeks, they gained complete visibility into their internal network traffic, received automated policy recommendations, and continued uninterrupted clinical operations despite repeated cyber attempts.
Another example involves a major cancer center that expressed a unique requirement: the ability to maintain “seamless delivery of patient care even if faced with an attack.” After phase one of building their zero trust network using our microsegmentation deployment, they reported peace of mind that their mission-critical operations now possess the resilience to withstand breaches. Similarly, we supported a major hospital network that had suffered a prior perimeter-defense breach of its core EHR system. By combining granular network visibility, automated policy enforcement, and agentless protection for older devices, the organization was able to modify and evolve rapidly to a zero trust architecture, thus restoring confidence in its digital environment more rapidly than anticipated.
Empowering Healthcare Through Innovative Security
Healthcare organizations increasingly demand security solutions that can scale and adapt. Our approach at ColorTokens centers on zero trust and breach readiness. With us, healthcare providers secure EHR systems, medical devices, and other vital technologies from both external and internal threats and build resiliency to continue operations even in the face of a possible attack.
When defending Epic systems, for instance, we go beyond a module-by-module approach. We map out dependencies in great detail and segment the network traffic access according to roles, functions, and geographic locations, significantly shrinking the possible attack surface. Even if one piece is infiltrated, the design keeps critical Epic Cache databases beyond reach. We apply these same principles to other EHR systems such as Cerner, consistently reinforcing micro-perimeters and limiting lateral spread in the event of a breach – thus building a zero trust network, that has resiliency inherently built in.
Beyond these core applications, our offerings extend to safeguarding medical devices, shared workstations, and older systems that continue to play integral roles in healthcare settings. Here the zero trust network architecture is achieved through agentless deployment options and efficient implementation processes. We make it easier for healthcare organizations to embrace zero trust principles without impeding daily workflows. We’ve found that this flexibility is critical for hospitals juggling modern IoMT devices and legacy Windows systems still running essential clinical software.
Dedicated to Healthcare and Life Sciences
Our mission is rooted in a simple truth: healthcare professionals are under strain to begin we must do everything possible to free them and allow them to concentrate on caring for patients rather than wrestling with cybersecurity burdens. We engineer our solutions to align with the specialized demands of healthcare organizations, from hospitals to pharmaceutical/biotech companies and medical device companies, while also offering comprehensive support, training, and round-the-clock resources to ensure security evolves alongside new risks.
Charting a Secure Path Forward
The healthcare sector stands at a pivotal juncture. With a greying population the demand for care is only increasing. While cyberattacks escalate, our capacity to counter them grows stronger, thanks to breakthrough technologies and proven strategies. Our vision is a future where the hospitals are fully cyber resilient, and no patient’s care is interrupted or threatened by malicious intrusions. But this journey doesn’t end at implementing a single firewall or endpoint solution. True resilience demands a mindset shift: assume that adversaries will eventually penetrate your perimeter and then focus on containing them before they wreak havoc – i.e. zero trust architectures, achieved through microsegmentation.
Bridging the Gap with Agentless Protection and Legacy Systems
Many healthcare networks rely on intricate mixes of IoMT devices and sealed FDA-certified equipment. Traditional endpoint agents can’t always run on MRI scanners or older Windows machines. Our agentless Gatekeeper technology provides granular, policy-driven controls for these critical assets, ensuring that even unpatchable systems remain secure. Early adopters, including major children’s hospitals, have seen how quickly agentless solutions can be deployed and how effectively they isolate malicious traffic while allowing the free flow of legitimate medical data – creating a zero trust architecture with ease and no disruptions.
Fortifying Epic and Other EHR Systems at Scale
We often talk about Epic, Cerner, and other EHR platforms because they are the operational hearts of most hospitals. By segmenting those platforms into controlled zones, we drastically reduce an attacker’s ability to pivot within the environment. As soon as unauthorized movement is detected, automated zero trust policies kick in to quarantine the threat and protect patient records.
Expanding Healthcare Partnerships for Greater Resilience
One of the most illuminating takeaways from our recent work is how profoundly the notion of “resilience” resonates with our partners. By implementing zero trust traffic controls, our clients, ranging from community hospitals to national health systems, have prevented ransomware from proliferating beyond its initial entry point. Not only did this approach safeguard EHR availability, also preserved the trust of clinicians who rely on seamless system access to make real-time decisions about patient care.
Envision a Clinical Environment Where Cybersecurity Concerns Never Overshadow Patient Care
Ultimately, safeguarding patient safety in the digital era hinges on an evolved security mindset, beyond perimeter-based defences and into zero trust and continuous breach readiness. While no solution can guarantee total invulnerability, building a zero trust architecture with strong micro-perimeters, ensuring comprehensive visibility, and training staff to detect and stop threats go a long way in achieving cyber resilience This proactive posture allows healthcare professionals to focus on delivering uninterrupted patient care. We stand at your side, ready to deliver the solutions and guidance you need to deliver patient care, secure their data, and preserve trust in every corner of your organization.
For me, joining ColorTokens is a personal mission to help build a more resilient future for healthcare where medical innovations flourish without the constant fear of cyber intrusions. If you want to champion an environment where patient care remains paramount and uninterrupted, let’s start a conversation.
The post A Vision for a Breach Ready Healthcare appeared first on ColorTokens.
*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from ColorTokens authored by Dr. Guru Gurushankar. Read the original post at:
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