Healthcare continues to be one of the most targeted industries for cyberattacks. In fact, 88% of healthcare organizations reported at least one cyberattack in the past year. This isn't simply a number for hospitals, clinics, and healthcare systems that are already pushed tight; it's a warning sign.
Weaknesses within your network now put sensitive patient information, legal requirements, and even clinical operations at risk. As devices, software, EHR systems, and cloud applications get added, so do the entry points for attackers.
Adding more tools won’t fix the problem; it’ll just create more alerts. To truly fix the problem, healthcare providers should embed proven network security best practices supported by modern-day visibility dashboards and AI automation and intelligence. This article outlines how healthcare organizations can protect data, stay compliant, and build lasting cyber resilience.
Guardare makes this possible by giving security and IT teams a unified view of all healthcare networks so they can monitor, prioritize, and respond to risk quickly.
The Growing Attack Surface in Healthcare
Healthcare is one of the few industries that has evolved so rapidly in the digital age. Every new technology, from telemedicine platforms to cloud-based EHRs and medical devices, was designed to make things easier.
Each system, sensor, and app that’s connected to the network makes the attack surface even bigger. Ransomware, phishing, and now AI-powered impersonation attacks are all going after patient information and records. These records can be sold, ransomed, or used to commit insurance and identity fraud.
Compliance frameworks like HIPAA, HITRUST, and NIST CSF are put in place to help set a minimum bar for security controls. However, cyber attackers are evolving faster than regulations can keep up.
This makes for a high-value target that’s also pretty complicated and not agile enough to respond to new threats. IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report says that on average, a healthcare data breach costs $9.77 million, which is the highest of any industry.
And to make matters worse, AI has made risks worse while also helping to create new ones.
- LLMs make phishing messages nearly indistinguishable from real communication.
- Deepfake technology enables voice and video impersonation of doctors, executives, and billing staff.
- AI-assisted research tools used by clinicians are unintentionally exposing sensitive data online.
Knowing this, it’s important to raise the level of awareness. One that’s based on proactive defenses rather than reactive containment.
Why Healthcare Networks are Easy Targets for Hackers
Healthcare organizations have become prime targets because they have a lot of sensitive information, older legacy systems, and strict operational requirements.
The attack surface that keeps growing
Every digital endpoint, from connected infusion pumps and imaging equipment to cloud-based EHRs, could be an easy channel for attackers to get in. A single device that isn't being watched can let malware in or let it move laterally across networks.
High-value data has high risks
Cybercriminals can use medical records to get personal, financial, and insurance information, which makes them some of the most valuable data on the dark web. That high value placed on patients’ medical information has led to a rise in ransomware and phishing attacks that are expressly aimed at healthcare.
Regulatory red-tape
It's not just about keeping technology safe and secure; it’s about making sure healthcare security is also following the rules. HIPAA, HITRUST, and NIST CSF are all examples of regulatory frameworks that set the standard for how data should be kept safe. Unfortunately, these compliance requirements aren’t always pull-proof frameworks that will stop a cyberattack.
Best Practices for Securing a Core Network
Healthcare firms should focus on the following basic network security measures to make their systems safer without putting too much strain on their own teams:
1. Access Controls
Limit access to sensitive systems using least-privilege policies. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all accounts and identity governance to check access often and take away access that isn't needed.
2. Encryption and Data Protection
All patient data, whether it’s stored in EHR systems, sent over the network, or backed up, should be secure while it’s being sent and while it’s stored. Encryption is a safety measure that can help reduce the damage caused by a breach by making sure that stolen data stays unreadable.
3. Network Segmentation
It’s important to keep systems, such as medical devices and EHR databases, separate from regular IT networks. If a breach happens, segmentation makes it harder for cyberattackers to move laterally, while also decreasing the potential size of the attack.
4. Managing Patches and Vulnerabilities
Unpatched systems are still one of the most common ways for cyberattackers to breach your security system. Make sure you regularly update and patch all of your software, firmware, and associated devices. According to HIPAA Journal, 74% of healthcare organizations cite unpatched vulnerabilities as a leading cause of security incidents.
5. Ongoing Monitoring and Detection
Use technologies for continual monitoring to find problems before they become serious violations. Centralized log management and AI-driven analytics can find questionable activity as it happens.
Healthcare companies can lower their risk, keep patients' trust, and stay in line with changing standards by using all of these methods together.
Building Resilience Beyond Checkbox Compliance
Compliance requirements should be viewed as the floor, not the ceiling. To be really resilient, people, processes, and technology must all be connected and working together.
Start with your culture
Security awareness should extend beyond the IT department. Every employee who interacts with patient data must understand how to recognize phishing attempts, secure devices, and report incidents quickly.
45% of healthcare breaches stem from phishing or social engineering, making employee education just as vital as firewalls and encryption.
Make resilience a part of the process
Set up clear playbooks for responding to incidents, procedures for backing up and recovering data, and regular risk assessments.
Invest in the right tools
Legacy systems are outdated and can’t keep up with modern threats. Teams can respond faster, be confident in their decision-making, and meet regulations under pressure when they move toward unified visibility and AI automation.
How Technology and Unified Visibility Work Together
Like most industries, technology is both the challenge and the solution in healthcare cybersecurity. As networks grow to include devices, cloud services, and software systems, it is important to have a central view.
Full visibility on one unified dashboard
A unified dashboard simplifies complex networks by consolidating insights across EHR systems, endpoints, and IoT devices.
Detection powered by AI
Machine learning models can analyze and recognize patterns in large data sets faster than humans to identify emerging threats and reduce false positives quickly. According to IBM, AI-enabled security delivers an average of $1.9 million in cost savings per breach.
Integration across the ecosystem
The best solutions connect directly to medical devices, cloud systems, and compliance frameworks, turning data that is spread out into useful information.
Guardare’s multi-layered platform connects each layer together, allowing healthcare professionals to see and protect their whole network from one smart view.
How to Build a Stronger Future
Now that we understand the importance of network security, it’s time to focus on strengthening your defenses and safeguarding patient data. The ability to protect information, maintain compliance, and deliver uninterrupted care all depends on the resilience of your network.
Guardare helps healthcare organizations unify their network security all under one roof. Our AI–powered platform empowers teams to go from reactive protection to proactive resilience by giving them continuous visibility, AI-driven risk scoring, and instructions on how to fix what’s broken.
Request a demo to find out how Guardare can help you keep your healthcare network safe and protect the patients who trust you the most.
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