Cybersecurity threats are becoming more sophisticated every day. Now more than ever, teams responsible for securing healthcare IoT networks must stay one step ahead of cyber threat actors. It’s no longer enough to rely on reactive, ad-hoc threat detection. Today’s rapidly expanding healthcare IoT cyber threat landscape means that protecting patient safety, sensitive data, and the continuity of medical care delivery is more of a priority than ever. Here’s how the latest healthcare IoT cybersecurity threat detection solutions can help.
Improved Patient Safety and Better Outcomes
The first step in healthcare cybersecurity threat detection and response is having a comprehensive inventory of all healthcare IoT (Internet of Things) and connected medical devices. This in itself can be a challenge, as these devices are constantly powered off and stored, decommissioned, upgraded, and updated in modern, digitalized healthcare environments.
However, undocumented or outdated healthcare IoT devices provide the perfect backdoor for hackers and scammers to exploit, potentially leading to device malfunctions, delayed treatment, or inaccurate diagnostics that endanger patient health and safety.
Proactive threat detection and response also improves patient safety by providing an additional layer of protection around connected medical devices. For example, it helps ensure IoT devices are protected and can continue to function correctly and securely while IT security teams focus on patching vulnerable healthcare IoT devices on their network.
Superior Risk Assessment and Management
Once all healthcare IoT devices have been properly inventoried, the next step is to focus on the devices most at risk. This lets the IT security team direct resources to where they’re most needed. By looking at different factors like device criticality to patient care (for example, iMRIs are high criticality when compared to smart thermometers), the team can adapt protections accordingly.
Advanced Detection and Response
Today’s most advanced cybersecurity threat detection systems, driven by the latest technologies, including AI and machine learning, can flag anomalies in device behavior, which can indicate security breaches. A connected ventilator, infusion pump, or patient monitoring system compromised by a cyberattack could have life-threatening consequences.
Real-time monitoring lets security teams respond to threats faster while minimizing potential damage from a breach and ensuring that critical devices remain functional when patients need them the most.
Network Segmentation and Zero Trust Policies
Reliable threat protection depends on security policies such as zero trust. Implementing features like proper network segmentation, which helps enable zero trust, is designed to minimize access-based intrusions and limit the spread of successful exploits that could disrupt patient care.
By reducing lateral threat movement, IT teams prevent cybercriminals and hackers from using one device as a springboard to infect other systems (for example, jumping from a hospital security camera to a patient monitoring system or Electronic Health Records (EHR) system). This helps protect both hospital operations and patient well-being from cyber-driven disruptions.
Real-Time Response and Automated Threat Mitigation
AI-driven threat detection enables real-time IoT device monitoring, which IT security teams can then use to help stop or halt the damage from vulnerabilities or exploits before they can cause real harm. Even zero-day attacks which occur without advanced warning can be minimized thanks to this lower response time. This ability to deliver a rapid response also helps improve the overall healthcare cybersecurity posture, which in turn helps to reduce the potential for both financial as well as reputational damage.
Preventing Supply Chain Attacks on IoT Medical Devices
One of the biggest attack vectors for hospital IoT medical devices comes in the form of supply chain attacks. By proactively detecting vulnerabilities in devices from medical device manufacturers, as well as vulnerabilities that may be present in third-party software or firmware updates, healthcare facilities can take steps to identify their exposure and install authenticated and verified patches before vulnerabilities can be exploited.
A smart, intuitive healthcare IoT and connected medical device security solution like the Cylera platform has the ability to safeguard IoT devices by preventing backdoor installations or access while keeping an ongoing, real-time inventory of devices currently connected to the network and any associated vulnerabilities.
Keeping Healthcare IoT Devices Running Smoothly Over the Long Term
Implementing cybersecurity measures on healthcare IoT devices is also an investment in their long-term health and continued operation. Unsecured devices can introduce unexpected downtime, impacting everything from routine patient monitoring to critical emergency interventions.
Malware and unauthorized processes can lead to spotty performance. Excessive CPU or memory use from botnets or DDoS attacks can cause devices to crash. By making sure that only secure, authorized updates are applied, IT operations and IT security teams can avoid these issues.
Why Rely on Cylera to Protect Your IoT Devices?
Cylera offers an in-depth cybersecurity solution built from the ground up for healthcare IoT devices. With comprehensive asset discovery and inventory, passive monitoring, and real-time vulnerability, risk, and threat detection, Cylera takes advantage of the latest in machine learning and AI to correlate a wide variety of cybersecurity data, then delivers targeted insights designed to help your IT security team focus on actual threats.
Cylera also integrates easily with existing asset management and security systems, including Network Access Control (NAC), firewalls, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems, and more. This type of interoperability helps improve overall security policy enforcement, incident response, and risk management across the entire healthcare organization’s connected infrastructure.
Getting Started with Healthcare IoT Cyber Threat Detection
Detecting cybersecurity threats is about more than just preventing hacks and being on the lookout for zero-day exploits. It’s about making sure that patient safety is protected. The right healthcare cybersecurity threat detection solution helps hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare organizations maintain financial stability and regulatory compliance while taking advantage of the latest advances in smart healthcare digitalization. With more threats than ever targeting IoT devices, including ransomware and AI-driven attacks, hospitals must adopt proactive measures to secure their healthcare IoT devices and safeguard the patients whose care depends on them, including proactive cyber threat detection.
Cylera can help. With our best-in-class cybersecurity monitoring and threat detection, real-time alerts and notifications, and advanced AI-driven technology, Cylera enables IT security teams to avoid false positives and focus on the real threats that matter. We invite you to learn more by taking a detailed product tour to see how our platform works, or request a demo. During the demo, we’ll work with you one-on-one to show you how Cylera can help you proactively manage hospital IoT devices while keeping an ongoing inventory of assets and monitoring for active threats.
Give your team the solution they need to mitigate threats before they become serious problems. See why Cylera is trusted by healthcare networks and hospitals around the world to deliver superior healthcare cyber threat detection.
