Cybersecurity across the continuum of care
From adopting virtual visits and on-boarding more connected devices to enabling remote work and securing the workplace, there have never been more...
Cybersecurity across the continuum of care
Real-world experiences from three healthcare providers
Introduction
Today, healthcare organizations are more connected than ever before.
From adopting virtual visits and on-boarding more connected devices to enabling remote work and securing the workplace, there have never been more opportunities or challenges for healthcare organizations. Healthcare providers must look beyond “normal” and even the “new normal” to embrace the ever-changing reality of the future with new levels of resilience and greater attention to security.
Just think of the volume of healthcare data being transferred and stored every day —
data from IoT, connected medical devices, electronic health records (EHR), clinical workstations, and smart hospital applications for patients, clinicians, researchers, and administrators.
All of this data requires a strong defense to enhance patient safety and protect organizations from cybersecurity breaches.
As the number of attacks in healthcare continue to increase, along with the sophistication of threats, providers must find the best ways to tackle these challenges. Read on to learn what’s at stake and how Cisco is helping three providers today.
What’s at stake: Business resiliency due to security incidents
Disruption of clinical and administrative processes
Network downtime and loss of critical server and application operations are common effects of poor security. The more a provider relies on converged and integrated networks, EHR, practice management systems, and clinical information systems, the more network downtime can interfere with a provider’s ability to treat patients and impact patient safety.
Loss of patient and partner confidence
A healthcare provider that has been victimized by cyber criminals may find it difficult to earn back trust and loyalty. Patients, insurers, and clinical partners are understandably reluctant to share information with an organization that cannot protect private data.
Financial costs
Under regulatory requirements (such as HIPAA in the United States), providers that fail to protect confidential patient data can face stiff penalties and liability from litigation. To combat these threats, providers need consistent, scalable, enterprise-wide security solutions that continually protect their networks.
1. Ponemon 2019 Cost of a Data Breach Report
2. Armis, Medical and IOT Device Security for Healthcare, 2019
3. 2019 HIMSS Cybersecurity Report
Securing data as healthcare expands beyond the hospital
Boston Medical Center
Boston Medical Center
Massachusetts, US
5,700 users
As medical technology increasingly moves healthcare delivery beyond hospital walls to everywhere it’s needed, Boston Medical Center sought to secure the data and devices moving with it. With Cisco Umbrella protecting highly sensitive patient, employee, and research data against malware, ransomware, and other threats, this busy academic medical center can focus on providing exceptional healthcare to patients at its main facility in Boston’s South End, locations away from the hospital, and in the cloud.
CHALLENGE
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Increased need to safeguard confidential patient, employee and research data
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Secure 5,700 full-time equivalent staff accessing labs, medications and other patient information remotely
SOLUTION
RESULTS
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Strengthened security for users and devices on- and off-network with no impact to users or patients
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Blocked more than one million threats per month
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Gained deep network insight to expedite incident response resolution
“Because defending our network and data against malware, ransomware, phishing, and other threats may literally be a life-and-death matter, we needed a way to deliver maximum security with minimal impact to our operations and patient care.”
- Lee Cullivan, Chief Information Security Officer, Boston Medical Center
Read the full story
Balancing network security and uninterrupted service
King Fahad Specialist Hospital
King Fahad Specialist Hospital
Dammam, Saudi Arabia
King Fahad Specialist Hospital in Dammam (KFSH-D) is the premier teaching hospital in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Region. Across the care facility, King Fahad Specialist Hospital has many connected devices on the network - from bedside monitors to clinician computers and tablets to personal and hospital-owned mobile devices. The challenge? Securing all of the network endpoints without risking downtime or disruption of service.
CHALLENGE
SOLUTIONS
RESULTS
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IT spends 60% less time on network administration
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Ability to instantly create guest portals to allow patients and visitors to connect to the internet
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Eliminate human errors with automation
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Ability to monitor atypical traffic and flag it as malicious
“This level of stability is unheard of in Saudi Arabia. We are proud that we at King Fahad Specialist Hospital Dammam have not experienced any service interruptions due to cyberattacks. This comes down to the dedication of our team, and to the superlative support we continue to receive from Cisco."
- Abdulrahman K. Al Mazroua, Director of Information and Communication Technology Administration at King Fahad Specialist Hospital – Dammam
Read the full story
Protecting patient data and maintaining a healthy security posture
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
Glasgow, Scotland
38,000+ employees
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGG&C) is one of the largest health service organizations in the UK. Since standardizing on the Cisco integrated security architecture, NHSGG&C experienced greater threat hunting capabilities, faster detection and response against advanced threats, and improved employee efficiency with security that works together.
CHALLENGE
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Protect against ransomware attacks
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Detect and quickly respond to phishing and other email-related threats
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Improve remediation time and employee workload efficiency
SOLUTIONS
RESULTS
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Greater protection against advanced threats
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Ability to block new threats system-wide as they appear, resulting in improved security and resource utilization
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Shrink remediation time, while improving overall efficiencies by leveraging an integrated approach
“It has almost entirely removed some of the previous pain points, and I think the functionality that is inherent in the tools has enabled us to address additional and new questions.”
- Calum Morrison, Head of E-Health Operations, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
Read the full story
The Cisco Secure portfolio consists of a broad set of technologies that function as a team – providing turnkey interoperability with your infrastructure. This results in unified visibility, automation, and stronger defenses. Through the built-in Cisco SecureX platform, our products combine to help safeguard your network, users and endpoints, cloud edge, and applications.
A simplified platform experience
SecureX is a cloud-native, built-in platform experience within our portfolio that is integrated and open for simplicity, unified in one location for visibility, and maximizes operational efficiency.
It reduces the dwell time and human-powered tasks involved with detecting, investigating, and remediating threats to counter attacks or securing access and managing policy to stay compliant. The time savings and better collaboration involved with orchestrating and automating security across SecOps, ITOps, and NetOps teams helps advance your security maturity level. SecureX speeds time-to-value and reduces costs with real benefits in 15 minutes.
Key benefits of SecureX
Integrated and open for simplicity: You don’t want to spend more time and talent integrating your investments. You want an integrated and open platform that simplifies your existing ecosystem and is interoperable with third party solutions.
Unified in one location for visibility: To counter attacks and stay compliant, you need answers in one unified view, not isolated alerts. Gaining contextual awareness across your security ecosystem helps your teams share and coordinate response faster.
Maximized operational efficiency: Evolving from manual to automated workflows with a few clicks results in faster remediation with better precision. And by eliminating the friction and repetition in your processes, you can save time and lower your ongoing costs.
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