Healthcare organizations are facing a growing array of challenges. One of the biggest concerns that hospitals and other healthcare providers have to contend with is cybersecurity.
Healthcare organizations are at a growing risk of cyberattacks. There were 68 data breaches in hospitals between July 2021 and September 2021. That figure has probably increased since, although hard numbers are difficult to come by. The average cost of a hospital data breach is $9.23 million, but the figure is even bigger at larger hospitals.
It is clear that healthcare organizations need to do more to protect against cyberattacks, since they are so expensive. One of the biggest things they need to do is decide whether to use SASE or traditional network security to stop hackers from committing healthcare data breaches.
Should Healthcare Organizations Invest in SASE or Traditional Network Security?
Today, the development of cyber-attacks in parallel with technology and becoming a more common threat pose great problems for healthcare companies. Traditional security systems can no longer stand strong enough against these threats and cannot prevent attacks. At this point, innovative and stronger cybersecurity solutions provide the most effective network security. SASE and Zero Trust security solutions are the most widely used and most effective.
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In order to appreciate the need for healthcare organizations to invest in cybersecurity solutions, it is important to understand the scope of the risk. A growing number of healthcare organizations are facing shocking losses as a result of cybersecurity breaches.
United Health Services was attacked with ransomware in September 2020. The company had to redirect ambulances and surgeries to other hospitals.
According to research in 2021, 64 percent of North American respondents say they are familiar with zero trust, while 47 percent say they are familiar with SASE. In general, respondents had the least exposure to SD-WAN. Security protocols are implemented using security architectures like SASE and zero trust. The notion of perimeterless security commonly referred to as the Zero Trust security model holds that devices are not trusted by default.
Unfortunately, traditional cybersecurity solutions cannot provide adequate protection for healthcare companies’ digital environments, networks, and systems. This is especially true for hospitals with large networks that are huge targets for cybercriminals. The increase in the number of cyber attacks on companies causes disruptions in the running of the business and harms the company by putting security at risk. The first thing to do in the frequency of cyber-attacks today is to get the right solution.
How Is Traditional Network Security Evolved in time?
Traditional network security solutions are set at the gateway to allow or block traffic based on source and destination addresses, services, and protocols used. This method has lost the adequacy of the traditional firewall approach for good gateway control due to new generation threats and increasing attacks.
Application control is at the forefront of the points where the inadequacy of traditional network security methods is felt. Since only service-based restrictions can be made in traditional structures, applications from other allowed services can run.
With traditional network security system design failing to meet current requirements, security providers have started to develop methods that prevent security breaches and examine deep data content to reveal malicious software in network traffic.
In addition, companies had to bear the cost of a large number of security devices and solutions in order to close the vulnerabilities of traditional firewall methods. It necessitates additional operational effort and workforce because each typical device needs to be monitored and handled separately.
What Is The Difference Between Traditional Network Security and New Cybersecurity Solutions?
Without sacrificing performance, new cybersecurity solutions govern source-target and user behavior. The most obvious and most important difference between next generation security solutions and traditional architecture is that new solutions have an architecture that can recognize the applications that generate the traffic. They are ideal for healthcare providers that have to deal with a growing threat of cybercrime.
This enables the separation of applications and the creation of corporate policies determined according to business rules. Thanks to the new cybersecurity solutions’ ability to analyze data in great detail, savings are made in terms of performance and cost.
What Is SASE and is it Ideal for Hospitals?
Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is a great solution, a new combination of networking and security capabilities introduced by Gartner. The SASE platform consolidates SD-WAN and network security point solutions (FWaaS, CASB, SWG, and ZTNA) into one unified, cloud-native service.
The SASE architecture is an innovation in cybersecurity cloud services that solves problems that previous methods could not handle. A unified method that provides a holistic overview of the health of the network, addressing all risk channels with the same attention, SASE benefits companies greatly. All the building blocks of SASE consist of cloud-native security components, Zero Trust applied policies, and network service core work.
A growing number of healthcare providers are using SASE. Health Tech Magazine discusses some of the reasons healthcare organizations are investing in this approach to cybersecurity.
How Does SASE Benefit My Healthcare Business?
With the increasing prevalence of digitalization in the business world, SASE aims to form the foundation of corporate network systems of businesses and is defined as an advanced network solution that provides the highest level of security and superior performance at competitive prices. Here are its unique benefits for healthcare businesses:
- Move faster and improve performance
- Enhance security through a unified policy
- Eliminate complexity and reduce cost
- Ensuring SaaS security
- Have threat prevention systems
- Provide secure remote access
There are several separate components that make up the SASE framework. Delivered in one easy-to-use, easy-to-assemble solution, network security management is simplified and your business security is significantly improved.
How Should I Choose the Best SASE Vendor for My Hospital or Healthcare Practice?
Your choice of SASE providers should be directly related to your risk model as a healthcare organization. The implementation of SASE is a strategic decision that will affect all business areas. Therefore, a comprehensive risk assessment is required to assess critical areas, especially for remote workers. Once complete, SASE vendors such as NordLayer should base your company’s identified weaknesses. The best choice for a SASE provider will be one that solves your business’ specific problems.
Healthcare Organizations Need to Invest in the Right Network Security
In today’s connected world, everyone benefits from advanced cyberdefense programs. Healthcare organizations must be especially diligent, since the cost of data breaches can cost lives and drive healthcare costs through the roof.
An individual-level cybersecurity attack can cause anything from identity theft to extortion attempts and the loss of important data like family photos. However, healthcare companies must deal with much greater risks. Many people rely on critical infrastructures such as power plants, hospitals, and financial services companies. Securing these and other organizations is crucial to keeping society afloat.
Sensitive information such as ID numbers, passwords, credit card information, and bank account information is now stored in the cloud storage services of large organizations. Governments around the world are drawing more attention to cybercrime. This imperative has led standards boards to publish frameworks to help organizations understand security risks, improve cybersecurity measures, and prevent cyberattacks.
