Tackling Cybersecurity Challenges in Healthcare

Technology is revolutionizing the way consumers get healthcare. With the introduction of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), electronic devices can now collect patient data and provide it to healthcare professionals, making it easier to make diagnoses and issue treatment.

But with innovation comes risk. More patient data than ever is stored on network devices, turning those systems into attractive payloads for hackers. For that reason, the medical industry has placed a priority on cybersecurity making it one of the most regulated industries. Yet there are challenges to achieving the level of security prescribed by the regulators, including addressing skills shortages and ensuring regulatory compliance.

Exabeam is working with healthcare facilities to address these challenges head-on. Using the latest technology, Exabeam comes up with solutions that ensure healthcare professionals can do their jobs while also protecting the privacy of patients.

Cybersecurity teams face challenges

Even if you have a highly skilled team of cybersecurity professionals monitoring your network, they’re challenged to interpret the alerts they see — a process that can easily fall prey to human error.

For many healthcare organizations, finding and retaining a top-notch cybersecurity team is a challenge in itself. In many job markets, the number of skilled IT security analysts dramatically falls short of the number of openings, leaving you to compete with others in your area for the small pool of experienced workers. 

With Exabeam in place, analysts are provided the data they need to do their jobs. They’ll still use their expertise, but it will be in interpreting information and conducting investigations rather than monitoring network activity in search of anomalies. Using Exabeam Smart Timelines, analysts can see every action a user took during a session, which can make investigations not only easier, but far more effective.

The growing internet of things

The internet of things (IoT) has taken over homes and offices. In the medical industry, though, it takes on an all-new importance. Medical devices that are connected to the internet can gather data that can detect and diagnose issues early, possibly saving lives. In the medical community, healthcare-specific internet-connected devices fall under the umbrella of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)

This new approach to healthcare brings elevated challenges to cybersecurity teams. There are currently an estimated 30 billion connected IoT devices. The  healthcare sector’s usage of IoT devices is expected to grow to 162 million by the end of 2020, and each of those devices have to be tracked and catalogued by security teams. If a security breach is detected on one device, it could signal a way into the network for a hacker trying to gather patient data.

Exabeam’s analytics solution is built to tackle those challenges, automatically detecting activity on all connected devices and monitoring them. As new devices are added, the solution begins monitoring, learning typical behaviors through machine learning in order to immediately alert analysts when unusual activity is detected.

Handling regulatory compliance

Any solution for the healthcare industry has to acknowledge the unique set of regulatory requirements that apply to the sector such as the following regulations:

• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• Health Information Technology for Economic Clinical Health (HITECH) Act
• Local data privacy legislation laws

Protecting patient data isn’t just a matter of good customer service. Facilities can face fines for breaches that lead to the exposure of protected health information. As far as the government is concerned, that information includes demographics, medical histories, test results, lab results, mental health conditions, and insurance information.

As threat actors take advantage of technology advances, it’s important that security professionals in medical facilities have the best tools available to prevent and detect unusual activity indicative of a breach. With these tools in place, healthcare organizations can protect patients, ensure regulatory compliance, and deal with IT skills shortages without breaking the budget.

Exabeam’s industry solution brief details how the healthcare sector is dealing with the challenges it currently faces. Click here to read the brief and learn more about how your healthcare organization can remain competitive.