Healthcare IT security

The challenge of healthcare IT security

As a professional in health information technology, you face serious healthcare IT security challenges 24/7/365. Attackers are working overtime to find new ways to breach your systems and access high-value patient data. Ransomware is always a threat, potentially crippling operations and costing your organization millions. Insider threats abound, and legacy medical equipment becomes harder every day to patch and protect. To make security even more complex, the move to telehealth, the digital front door and mobile workforces has only increased your organization’s attack surface.

We can help. At Spectrum Business for enterprise, we partner with thousands of healthcare organizations to provide healthcare IT security solutions that simplify defenses, shield sensitive information and prevent cyberattacks while meeting critical compliance goals. Built on a fast, scalable fiber network, our comprehensive healthcare cybersecurity solutions deliver widespread protection that can keep you one step ahead of evolving threats to your healthcare network.

The threats to healthcare IT security

In the healthcare arena, cyber threats are constantly changing as criminals seek new, more effective attack vectors. Today’s top threats to healthcare IT security include:

DDoS

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks continue to plague healthcare organizations everywhere, and they increased in frequency during the Covid pandemic. These threats are varied in nature and can easily cause IT systems to slow down or crash, disrupting operations and impacting quality of care.

Ransomware

Healthcare systems are often the target of ransomware attacks that block users from accessing data and applications. Because of the critical life-and-death nature of healthcare services, attackers believe that hospitals will be more inclined to pay a ransom to return to normal services quickly. The cost of ransomware attacks can easily reach into millions of dollars for larger systems.

Business email compromise

Email attacks like phishing are a perennial threat for healthcare organizations. It only takes one careless or unsuspecting healthcare worker to click on a malicious link for attackers to gain unauthorized access to account credentials and, in turn, to access patient data, IT systems and financial information.

Insider threats

With so many employees, contractors and partners accessing your network, it’s easy for someone to misuse their privileges in a way that negatively impacts your organization.

Defending against these myriad threats requires a multilayered approach to healthcare data security. To fully protect your system, your employees and your patients, you need comprehensive cybersecurity solutions and a partner who can help you integrate them seamlessly. That’s where we excel.

Healthcare IT security with Spectrum Business for enterprise

With deep experience as a partner to more than 115,000 healthcare organizations, Spectrum Business for enterprise provides trusted technology and expert support to enhance healthcare IT security. Whether you’re managing a single site or a geographically dispersed, multi-site organization, our technologies, managed services and healthcare expertise enable you to be more effective, more informed and more responsive to evolving security requirements.

Healthcare IT security solutions from Spectrum Business for enterprise include:

• Cloud Security with Cisco+ Secure Connect. To defend your network users and data, Cloud Security with Cisco+ Secure Connect provides a consistent and universal security experience no matter where your users connect from. Cloud Security mitigates healthcare IT security threats in real time and offers advanced network protection visibility and control over cloud applications and services.
• Secure Access with Cisco Duo. This Spectrum Business for enterprise solution strengthens your network access with multifactor authentication Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) capabilities. Seamlessly integrated with your network directory systems, Secure Access lets you allow or deny targeted permission to data or applications based on user, device and location while enjoying visibility into who and what devices are accessing your network at any time.
• Enterprise Network Edge. Designed for enterprise businesses, this managed security solution is delivered over the Fortinet platform. Enterprise Network Edge includes next-generation firewall (NGFW) protection, web application control, unified threat management (UTM) functionality and packet inspection of encrypted traffic.
• Managed Network Edge. Built for midsized operations, Managed Network Edge is a modular, all-in-one solution delivered over the Cisco Meraki platform. It includes firewall and unified threat management (UTM) functionality, advanced malware protection, URL content filtering and intrusion protection.
• DDoS Protection. This cloud-based subscription service protects your network against volumetric attacks, shielding your applications and systems by automatically identifying and mitigating threats.

Simplify healthcare IT security with Managed Practice Package

Spectrum Business for enterprise Managed Practice Package provides a single solution to improve security for individual healthcare practices. This comprehensive offering includes a single platform for secure connectivity, communications and equipment, and immediately increases the technology expertise and support available to your healthcare practice.

Our Managed Practice Package provides:

• Flexibility. Choose what works best for you from a range of options, including co-managed services or a fully managed solution.
• Fast connectivity. Our Fiber Internet Access service increases productivity through dedicated, high-performance internet service.
• Security. Integrated security solutions managed by our network experts offer an immediate upgrade to protect your data and systems.
• WiFi. Provide your employees and patients with secure and simple access to your network.
• Multiple sites. SD-WAN capabilities let you quickly and easily expand your network to additional sites and cloud services.
• Ease-of-use. Manage your entire network from anywhere with a single, cloud-based portal.
• Unified communications. Achieve telehealth goals and support remote workers with easy-to-use solutions for voice, collaboration, video and data needs.

Why choose Spectrum Business for enterprise?

Spectrum Business for enterprise partners with America’s largest businesses to design and deliver high-performing network solutions. Offering a modern fiber network, a complete portfolio of solutions and a relentless commitment to superior client experiences, we help clients stay steps ahead of cyber threats, business demands and the requirements of healthcare digital transformation.

When you choose Spectrum Business for enterprise, you can count on:

• Close collaboration. Our experts work closely with you and your teams to design, deploy and support solutions for connectivity, networking, hospital information technology security and more.
• Exceptional performance. Our wholly owned fiber network covers 245,000+ fiber-route miles and powers 317,000+ fiber-lit buildings, delivering the speed, capacity, reliability and security you need to enhance operations and quality of care.
• Responsive support. Our network and technologies are backed by 24/7/365 client care and end-to-end service-level agreements (SLAs) that offer 100% uptime on certain services.¹

FAQs

What are the biggest challenges in healthcare IT security?

Healthcare IT security teams are faced with a variety of challenges as they work to secure their systems and protect patient data. A growing reliance on IoT devices, telehealth solutions and mobile workforces is creating larger attack surfaces that must be monitored and protected. The use of third-party technology and connected medical devices means organizations must be hypervigilant about threats originating in the supply chain and third-party relationships. Evolving regulations around patient data create compliance challenges, and teams must constantly work to defend against threats like ransomware and DDoS attacks.

How does legacy equipment impact healthcare IT security?

Because medical devices are often used for a decade or more, they are frequently difficult to protect with security patches and updates. As a result, these technologies may be more susceptible to evolving cyber threats. To protect their systems, data, employees and patients, healthcare organizations must adopt technologies and strategies like Zero Trust, strong firewalls, antivirus, intrusion detection, data encryption and multifactor authentication.

¹100% uptime SLA guarantee applies only to Dedicated Fiber Internet, Secure Dedicated Fiber Internet, Ethernet Services, Cloud Connect and Enterprise Trunking.