A cybersecurity attack on a healthcare network is never a “once and done” breach. It’s an ongoing threat which has the potential to seep into critical patient care, affecting everything from the internet itself all the way down through healthcare IoT and connected medical devices. For this reason, it’s now more important than ever to protect healthcare networks.
But where do you begin? The first step in responding to a cyberattack is to prevent its spread, and halting lateral movement is a key strategy when responding to an attack.
What is Lateral Movement?
Lateral movement is a tactic cyber attackers use to expand their access within a network after a breach. Once they gain a foothold within the network, usually through a compromised device or by phishing, they try to move within the network or “laterally” to other devices to try and steal data or compromise the devices in other ways.
The goal of lateral movement is to spot higher value targets like databases full of sensitive patient information or other critical systems. Think of lateral movement like stepping stones that give the attacker greater leverage and leeway to access more and more valuable information.
For this reason, restricting lateral movement is vital to help contain an attack before it spreads and potentially compromises critical systems. In recognition of the importance of limiting lateral movement during an attack, the Cylera platform has been designed to help stop lateral movement in its tracks using the latest technology along with a multi-pronged protective approach.
Asset Discovery and Classification
At the core of Cylera’s cybersecurity solutions is its detailed asset discovery and classification system. In healthcare settings, networks may contain thousands upon thousands of IoT and connected medical devices, including medical IoT (Internet of Things) devices like MRI machines, infusion pumps and more.
Many of these devices incorporate features from outdated operating systems and lack basic security, which makes them a prime target for attackers. Cylera helps healthcare organizations profile these devices, which in turn helps healthcare organizations obtain a detailed, real-time inventory of assets and their functions.
Vulnerability and Risk Management Tools
With vulnerability management capabilities that are specifically tailored to the healthcare sector, IT administrators and information security teams now have greater insights than ever into the potential vulnerabilities that may affect their systems. Using Cylera, IT and information security teams can identify which devices or vulnerabilities are most vulnerable to exploitation via lateral movement during an attack. Armed with this information, they can then come up with a prioritized strategy for further strengthening the cyber defenses for these devices.,
In addition, Cylera also provides ongoing monitoring and threat detection capabilities, which enable flagging suspicious or unusual device behavior in real-time. If a device is behaving outside of its normal pattern, that may indicate the possibility of lateral movement. For example, a diagnostic imaging device or infusion pump shouldn’t be trying to communicate with the hospital’s financial systems, but if it does, Cylera will detect this its abnormal behavior and flag it for immediate review.
Network Segmentation and Micro-Segmentation
Another critical strategy at the core of Cylera’s cybersecurity approach is the focus on support for network segmentation and micro-segmentation. This allows administrators to segment each device or group of devices into its own self-contained unit, preventing them from easily communicating with devices in other segments.
One of Cylera’s most impressive features is its ability to automatically create network security policies based on the various characteristics of each device and its network role. This lets healthcare organizations set strict access control that prevents devices from unauthorized communications with other systems.
For example, a networked blood pressure monitor should only be communicating with designated systems, like an electronic health record (EHR) system. It shouldn’t be communicating with billing or administrative platforms.
Cylera network segmentation policy generation capabilities, in conjunction with its integrations with leading firewall and network access control (NAC) solutions, helps organizations enable dynamic network segmentation for healthcare IoT and connected medical devices. When organizations configure these dynamic segmentation capabilities for their healthcare network, real-time adjustments to device network segmentation can occur as devices are added or removed from the network. And when devices are effectively secured in their proper segment or subnet on the network, this helps prevent attackers from moving freely across the network.in the system.
For example, with proper network segmentation in place,even if an attacker were to gain access to the one device, they can’t easily use it as a stepping stone to others, and are more easily confined to an area where the threat can be neutralized swiftly.
Integration with Existing Security Infrastructure
Every healthcare facility is different and each one has their preferred tools and platforms. Cylera is designed to easily and seamlessly integrate with your existing infrastructure, including security information and event management (SIEM) solutions, firewall and network access control solutions, asset and IT service management solutions, and vulnerability management solutions. This allows healthcare organizations to craft a multi-faceted security approach to cybersecurity, with each layer working independently and collaboratively to detect, respond to, and prevent lateral movement.
This type of multi-pronged plan gives hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities the ability to strengthen their existing security processes and procedures without completely disrupting their preferred tools and systems.
What Happens if a Lateral Breach Occurs?
If a lateral breach does happen, Cylera offers proactive, swift, and thorough incident response to protect and prevent ongoing movement. Built-in forensic capabilities help security administrators trace the path of an attack and see, in granular detail, all affected devices. This helps stop the spread of a lateral movement before it worsens.
Beyond these options, Cylera’s in-depth logging and reporting tools help give security professionals the information they need to see how the attacker was able to gain entry, so that steps can be taken to further reinforce security and prevent such incidents from happening again.
Protect Against Lateral Movement Attacks and More Using Cylera
Cylera is more than just cybersecurity. The Cylera platform provides not only comprehensive protection for medical IoT devices, but also an advanced asset intelligence and analytics solution delivered as a part of a scalable, extensible platform that can perform and adapt as your healthcare systems and the cyber threat landscape continues to evolve. Through its unique device behavioral analysis, dynamic monitoring, and support for zero trust frameworks, Cylera works to safeguard devices while prioritizing areas of weakness or potential vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
We invite you to request a no-obligation, one-on-one demonstration of Cylera’s full capabilities and see for yourself how we’ve become the leading healthcare IoT and medical device cybersecurity system for healthcare delivery organizations large and small. The time to protect your network and vital systems is now. Contact us today for more information.
