As technology continues to revolutionize healthcare operations, the imperative to secure patient data has never been more critical. The year 2023 marked a tipping point in the industry's ongoing battle against data breaches, setting a disconcerting record with an unprecedented 133 million healthcare records exposed, stolen, or otherwise impermissibly disclosed, as reported by the HIPAA Journal in January 2024.
This statistic not only highlights the growing sophistication of cyber threats, but also underscores the critical role of identity security in safeguarding the foundation of healthcare operations.
In this blog, we will not only cover why health data security is so critical, but also how the integrity of our healthcare services is intrinsically tied to the robustness—or lack thereof—of organizations’ cybersecurity postures.
The High Stakes of Securing Healthcare Operations
Before someone becomes a physician, they must take the Hippocratic Oath. To “First, do no harm,” is a small piece of the larger code of ethics doctors swear to abide by.
The sanctity of human life and unwavering commitment to patient care have always been the cornerstones of the healthcare industry. Yet, as operations become increasingly digital, the sector finds itself at the precipice of an escalating cybersecurity crisis that threatens this code of ethics. Cyber threats to healthcare institutions are not merely disrupting services, but are also endangering actual lives and the very viability of healthcare institutions. The stakes of securing healthcare operations have never been higher.
A tragic incident at Dusseldorf University Hospital in Germany illustrates the potentially lethal consequences of cybersecurity vulnerabilities. When cybercriminals unleashed a ransomware attack, encrypting the hospital's data and disabling its servers, the institution was thrust into chaos. A critically ill patient had to be redirected to another facility. Sadly, the delay and distance proved fatal, and she died during transport to Wuppertal. As the first known death to be directly attributed to a cyberattack, this marks a grim milestone.
Compounding the gravity of these threats, St. Margaret's Hospital in the US faced a dire outcome from a ransomware attack in June 2023. The crippling cyber assault allegedly forced the hospital to shutter its doors permanently, showcasing the devastating long-term business impacts these incidents can have on healthcare delivery. The same month witnessed a massive data breach at HCA Healthcare, a Nashville-based health system, affecting up to 11 million patients across its vast network of more than 170 hospitals and ambulatory sites. This breach exposed sensitive patient data, underscoring the colossal scale at which personal information can be compromised. Additionally, HCA faced legal issues after being sued by patients for monetary damages in the wake of the breach.
These incidents collectively highlight the criticality of why healthcare operations must be fortified against cyber threats. Now and in the future, the repercussions will likely extend far beyond financial losses or reputational damage; they directly implicate patient safety, operational continuity, and the fundamental trust in healthcare systems.
Why is health data security so important?
Protecting patient health data transcends mere operational necessity or status quo; it is a fundamental ethical obligation and a legal imperative for healthcare providers.
The importance of this responsibility is magnified by stringent regulatory frameworks, like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the United States, which sets rigorous standards for the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information (PHI). Compliance with such regulations not only safeguards patient data, but also mitigates the risk of substantial financial penalties that can arise from data breaches. What’s more, the potential legal ramifications for healthcare organizations extend beyond fines; they include lawsuits, loss of license, and severe reputational damage that can erode patient trust and deter future engagements.
The repercussions of failing to protect patient data are becoming increasingly severe. For instance, breaches can lead to identity theft, financial fraud, and even blackmail, if sensitive health information falls into the wrong hands.
As healthcare systems become more interconnected, with electronic health records, telehealth services, m-health (mobile health), and remote access to cyber-physical systems becoming more common, the scale and impact of potential breaches expand exponentially. This interconnectedness, while beneficial for patient care and operational efficiency, introduces complex cybersecurity challenges that require proactive and sophisticated responses.
The Role of Secure Remote Access and Support in High-Criticality Healthcare Scenarios
The advent of remote support technologies has been a game-changer in the healthcare sector, particularly in high-criticality scenarios, where precision, real-time data, and specialist input are paramount. The role of remote support in such contexts is multifaceted, enhancing patient care, enabling timely interventions, and facilitating access to specialized expertise, irrespective of geographical constraints for employee, contractor, and equipment maintenance.
In the realm of neurosurgery and radiology (as two examples), remote support technologies are revolutionizing patient care. For example, during intricate procedures that require monitoring brainwaves or the reading of imaging studies, remote physicians can leverage remote access to cyber-physical healthcare systems to provide real-time analysis and guidance. This remote collaboration ensures that that all teams can make informed decisions instantly, adjusting their techniques to provide the best patience care.
The practice is called IONM Telemedicine, and its use is known to reduce complications during complex neurosurgical, orthopedic, spinal, cardiothoracic, vascular, otorhinolaryngology, interventional neurology, and interventional cardiology in adult and pediatric surgeries.
Similarly, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) benefits immensely from remote support technologies. Premature and critically ill newborns require constant, meticulous monitoring, which can be significantly enhanced through remote access systems. Specialists can remotely observe vital signs, review real-time data, and advise on care without the need for physical presence using cyber-physical monitoring systems, ensuring that the most vulnerable patients receive the highest standard of care. This capability is crucial in regions where access to specialized neonatal care is limited, bridging the gap between rural or underserved areas and the advanced healthcare services available in urban centers.
Another compelling use case of remote support is the continuous monitoring of brainwaves in patients with neurological conditions. Through remote Electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring, specialists can observe patients' brainwave patterns from afar, aiding in the diagnosis and management of conditions like epilepsy, sleep disorders, and brain injuries. This remote access not only facilitates timely and accurate diagnosis but also allows for ongoing management of chronic conditions, improving patients' quality of life by reducing the need for frequent hospital visits.
The expansion of remote support in critical healthcare procedures highlights the need for enhanced cybersecurity protocols. These technologies are essential for delivering specialized care and enabling real-time interventions, but unfortunately, they expose healthcare systems to threat actors who are always looking for new gaps in the ever-expanding attack surface.
As the digital footprint of healthcare grows, prioritizing cybersecurity, particularly when managing remote access to patient data and cyber-physical healthcare systems, is imperative to safeguard the future of patient care, especially in scenarios demanding high levels of expertise and precision.
How a Strong Identity Security Posture & Privileged Access Management (PAM) can Improve Operational Efficiency
Establishing a robust identity security framework is essential for healthcare organizations to boost operational efficiency while also protecting their return on investment (ROI).
A real-life example that highlights this point involves the WannaCry ransomware attack, which affected numerous organizations worldwide, including the UK's National Health Service (NHS). The attack exploited vulnerabilities in outdated systems, causing widespread disruption to hospital operations, delaying medical procedures, and ultimately impacting patient care. The financial repercussions were immense, with the NHS incurring costs of approximately £92 million, both in direct IT expenses and in lost output.
In today's digital healthcare environment, with extensive data exchanges across various platforms, devices, and cyber-physical systems, securing the identity of every user is a fundamental cybersecurity hygiene protocol. To accomplish this, comprehensive privileged access management (PAM) strategies are critical.
The domain of privilege management falls within the broader scope of identity and access management (IAM) and identity security. Together, PAM and IAM help to provide fined-grained control, visibility, and auditability over all credentials, privileges, and access. Their implementation ensures that sensitive health data and systems are accessible only to verified and trusted individuals, significantly reducing the likelihood of cyberattacks that could lead to operational disruptions and substantial financial damage.
8 Key Benefits of Privileged Access Management (PAM) for the Healthcare Industry
Some key benefits of privileged access management solutions for the healthcare industry include:
- Reducing the Attack Surface: Limit privileges for people, processes, and applications to decrease the attack surface by minimizing access to sensitive patient information, financial information, and cyber-physical patient monitoring systems.
- Operating by the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP): Curb user access rights to only what is strictly required to perform their jobs by role, minimizing potential privileged attack vectors and limiting the likelihood a threat actor could gain access to critical patient data or remote monitoring systems by targeting any individual employee’s digital identity or third-party access.
- Reduced Insider Threats: By removing admin rights and implementing least privilege and just-in-time access, the risk posed to patient data and financial information by insider threats with overreaching access can be minimized.
- Pragmatic Application Control: Utilizes allow lists, block lists, and grey lists to ensure that users can only access legitimate, authorized applications within the right context to mitigate the risk of malware and ransomware infecting critical infrastructure and patient care/monitoring systems.
- Remote Access: Provides detailed control over remote access for vendors, contractors, and employees, enhancing visibility and control over sessions and streamlined management of access to cyber-physical systems to prevent unauthorized data access or system tampering, to enable system maintenance, and to enforce appropriate behavior.
- Monitoring and Management of Privileged Sessions: Enables real-time oversight of all privileged sessions, whether accessing patient data, financial information, or remote cyber-physical monitoring systems, with mechanisms to detect anomalous activity.
- Achieve and prove compliance: Enforce healthcare compliance by enforcing a need-to-know model for privileged access and documentation to support all privileged activity.
- Help satisfy cyber insurance requirements: In recent years, ransomware attacks and ransom payouts have hurt the bottom lines, and threatened the viability, of the cyber insurance industry. Cyber insurers appreciate that PAM controls reduce risk and stop threats, and thus are powerful tools in reducing cyber liability. Today, many cyber insurers mandate PAM controls to renew or obtain new cyber liability coverage.
On the business front, bolstering your identity security framework can streamline operations by automating access control and compliance processes. This not only enhances efficiency by reducing the administrative burden on IT staff, but also improves compliance with healthcare regulations, such as HIPAA. Automating these processes ensures that access rights are granted according to updated policies and revoked when no longer needed (or when an employee leaves the organization), thereby maintaining a secure and efficient operational environment.
Next steps
Well-implemented Identity Security and PAM strategies can sharply curtail the attack surface and minimize the potential for unauthorized privilege access misuse by ensuring users are only granted the permissions essential for their medical functions, for only the finite moments it is needed. Through stringent management of high-level access points, healthcare organizations can significantly lessen their risk of cyberattacks outright or mitigate the blast radius of a potential attack.
Malicious threat actors are not going away any time soon. By adhering to the principle of least privilege and installing proactive cybersecurity protocols, healthcare organizations can maintain a secure and efficient operational framework that is not only profitable, but also preserves patient confidence by safeguarding their personal and health information.
Click here for more information about how to support and protect expanding healthcare IT perimeters, or contact us today to talk about how BeyondTrust can help you leverage identity security and PAM to optimize your health data security.
Allen Longstreet, Content Marketing Writer
Allen is a content marketing writer at BeyondTrust. He has a wealth of experience building content strategy for tech start ups and SAAS businesses. He has a passion for video production, creative storytelling, and the intersection between the two.