The Importance of Network Security in Healthcare

Working in healthcare, you have plenty to consider.

You want to help people most of all.

That requires you to organize and optimize resources, empower your staff so they can do good work, and run a tight ship on many levels.

It also requires you to think about data and data security.

Tied to that is the related field of network security.

As a provider, you are civilly and legally responsible for patient health data.

If your network is insecure, it will prove difficult to live up to those responsibilities.

So, today, you can take a few minutes to learn more about network security, what it means for healthcare, and how you can better protect yourself, your staff, and your patients.

Common Network Vulnerabilities

When discussing network security in any industry, vulnerabilities all boil down to the same concepts:

• Security Hygiene
• Authentication and Authorization
• Physical Access Control

If a malicious actor can gain access to your network, they can create problems.

The ways they gain access are simple.

They can use stolen login credentials, physically access your hardware (in person), slip behind your security practices, or otherwise overcome your defenses.

While many different practices might see use in attacks, they focus on the same potential weak points.

That is why security hygiene, authentication and authorization, and physical access control sit at the heart of network security.

Protecting Against Cyber Threats

Considering those vulnerabilities, what do attacks look like?

What do malicious parties do when they get access to a network through one of those common routes?

We can break that down by understanding the most common cyber threats leveled at healthcare providers.

Key Cybersecurity Threats in Healthcare

How are healthcare networks attacked? Most malicious activity fits into five categories:

• Malware
• Insider Threats
• DDoS
• Phishing
• Data Theft

Malware can include anything from viruses to keyloggers to ransomware.

The damage to the network depends on the nature of the malware. 

Insider threats occur when someone with formal access to a healthcare network abuses that access for malicious activity.

As an example, an employee might steal patient information in order to sell it on the black market.

These attacks do not require any special malware (although that’s another possibility).

They instead require malicious action done by a legitimate insider.

DDoS attacks utilize network requests to overwhelm hardware and/or software.

As an example, if too many network requests come in at a short time, a web server might crash as it is unable to process the requests.

DDoS attacks vary in sophistication and purpose, but the gist is that they swarm your network until it breaks down.

Phishing occurs when someone uses trickery to try to gain usernames, passwords, or other access and control information to get into your network.

A classic example would be someone sending you an email claiming to be from the FBI.

The email will ask you to confirm login credentials so they can carry out an investigation.

Naturally, the whole thing is a lie, and as soon as you give up the credentials, they are used to carry out malicious activity within your network.

Data theft often relates to these other attacks, but it’s worth mentioning as a common goal when people go after a network.

In healthcare, the very data you use is often under attack, whether the attack comes via malware, phishing, insider threats, or otherwise.

Attacks outside of these categories do exist, but the vast majority fit into these groups.

Thus, this is a great starting point for discussing healthcare network security at a deeper level.

Mitigating Risks

Knowing common vulnerabilities and the most likely methods of attacks can help you think about security, but that alone doesn’t solve problems.

You need actionable strategies that really protect your network.

Three key practices do the heavy lifting here.

First, staff need training.

Anyone with legitimate access to your network is a point of vulnerability if they don’t use a secure password or fall for a phishing scam.

Train them in safe practices, and retrain them.

It might feel redundant, but cybersecurity experts routinely tell us that the vast majority of attacks are made possible by poor security hygiene.

Second, smart network design can lower your risks considerably.

In healthcare, data tends to be the largest risk — especially considering HIPAA’s role in everything.

The best way to mitigate attacks and protect data is to segment a network.

The idea is that each user can only access information that is relevant to their work.

The network does not provide direct access from each point to all other points.

There are multiple security checkpoints along the way if one wants to access everything.

Those points help to stop attacks before they can compromise the whole network, and the total damage in an attack is reduced.

Third, implement the simple practice of multifactor authentication (MFA).

For anyone unfamiliar with the term, you have probably run into this before.

You try to log into your account.

You put in the username and password.

Then, the software tells you that you need a temporary code from your phone to finish logging in.

You receive a text message, put in the temporary code, and can finally log in.

This is only one example of how MFA can work, but it adds an entire dimension of protection beyond basic passwords, and it stops the majority of attacks in their tracks.

MFA essentially forces everyone on staff to practice better security hygiene.

Even if it feels inconvenient, it’s one of your most powerful tools.

Implementing Strong Network Defenses

Understanding risks and threats puts you in a good place to think about network security and how you can be an effective partner in protecting your own.

Now, we can talk about things you can implement that will help bolster your defenses.

Essential Tools and Practices

There are many ways to think about strengthening network defenses, but the easiest starting point rests with two ideas.

First, use encryption.

Networking standards continue to upgrade encryption as part of security features baked into everything you already use.

Don’t turn it off.

Your networking devices will encrypt all traffic by default if you let it, and this already helps with a lot of protection.

You can further encrypt data stored on-site to expand this protection.

In fact, the more you can use encryption without breaking down daily activities, the better.

Alongside encryption, you need strong physical access control.

All of the security devices in the world are meaningless if a bad actor can log directly into one of your devices that is already on the healthcare network.

You have to make sure unauthorized people cannot easily get to devices on your network.

In some cases, that’s easy.

You can put onsite computers and such out of reach of patients and visitors, and that goes a long way, but there’s more to consider.

Can employees access your network with their personal devices?

Can providers check patient files from home?

You can find plenty of reasons to enable remote access, and it’s often worth it.

The trick is to understand the risks that come with this choice.

Even with good remote security, if a remote device falls into the wrong hands, you lose physical access control. It’s something to remember with your security strategy.

Network Security Compliance and HIPAA

So far, the ideas around network security that you have read mostly fall in line with any other industry.

Yet, healthcare is different.

Healthcare providers remain popular attack targets, and they carry additional responsibilities that you will not find in other industries.

All of this roosts in the regulations known as HIPAA.

HIPAA changes expectations, responsibilities, and consequences of networking security failures.

If you work in healthcare, it’s important to understand HIPAA rules and how you can stay ahead of them (especially with audits).

HIPAA Rules

Most of HIPAA, as far as networking goes, boils down to the Security Rule.

This rule defines what protections are covered by the regulations.

That is Electronic Protected Health Information.

It’s any health information that can be “individually identified.” 

The rule also lays out your responsibilities.

You must ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information (PHI).

You also must identify and protect against security threats along with protecting against impossible uses or disclosures.

Finally, you are required to ensure compliance amongst your workforce.

In short, you need to make sure PHI is available to those authorized to access it and unavailable to everyone else.

The rules do use language like “reasonably anticipated,” meaning you don’t have to preemptively defeat every possible cyber threat out there.

Instead, HIPAA requires that you know the basics and take action against the most common or anticipated threats.

HIPAA also spells out the penalties of failure. 

HIPAA penalties range from the type of infraction to the nature of failure.

For instance, repeated, malicious failures incur harsher punishments than one-time, low-scale accidents.

Overall, fines range from $100 per individual infraction to more than $1 million in total fines for a widespread failure.

Deliberate failures come with additional fines of up to $250,000 per infraction and can lead to jail time of up to 10 years.

If you are not deliberately violating HIPAA rules, jail time is extremely unlikely, but fines are very much on the table.

Compliance Audits

Clearly, HIPAA compliance is paramount when it comes to healthcare networking.

The best way to be sure that you are doing things correctly is with regular audits.

Another approach is continuous auditing.

Continuous auditing is crucial because it provides ongoing assurance and real-time insights into an organization's financial, operational, and compliance health.

It enables proactive identification and mitigation of risks, ensures adherence to regulatory standards, and supports strategic decision-making by providing a constant flow of audit evidence.

This approach aligns with the dynamic nature of business processes and technology, allowing for immediate corrective actions and continuous improvement.

Security audits are common in many industries.

For healthcare, specialized HIPAA audits will verify that your security is in good shape.

It will also show you faults in your strategy and tactics and keep you ahead of HIPAA violations.

In many cases, audits more than pay for themselves by preventing HIPAA fines.

The Future of Healthcare Network Security

You have a good idea of what security looks like today.

How will that change in the future?

Fortunately, the fundamentals of network security will hold strong for the foreseeable future.

The real challenges stem from how healthcare providers are changing the ways they use networks in the first place.

Mostly, this looks like telemedicine and more employees connecting more devices at work and at home.

Remote Care

You have already seen how expanding access to your network comes with risk.

Remote care and telemedicine are on the rise.

From 2019 to 2021, telemedicine visits more than quadrupled.

That change is not reversing.

Patients need remote access to networks for these to work, and it falls on you to secure the connections.

Modern cybersecurity techniques do work, but your security responsibilities grow with higher telemedicine adoption rates.

More Connected Devices

Adding to that concept, more and more workers are connecting with their own personal devices and trying to find ways to at least partially work from home.

This yet again expands the total responsibilities of your network security and comes with plenty of additional challenges.

The future of healthcare network security will primarily focus on dealing with all of these extra devices in ways that maximize both security and network efficiency.

Get Professionals Behind Your Network Security

As you can see, there’s a lot to cover with network security, and this is just the introductory portion of the conversation.

If you want proper security, professional help is the best path forward. 

You can contact MainSpring today.

We’ll discuss the nature of your healthcare services, how you take care of patients, and what that means for networking and security.

We can partner with you to build a complete strategy that keeps you and your patients safe.