Healthcare Sector Application Security: Preventing Threats from Becoming Attacks
Published March 17, 2021 WRITTEN BY MICHAEL SOLOMON Michael G. Solomon, PhD, CISSP, PMP, CISM, PenTest+, is a security, privacy, blockchain, and data science author, consultant, educator and speaker who specializes in leading organizations toward achieving and maintaining compliant and secure IT environments. Software security isn’t a state of being, or even a single action; it is a process, and one that requires more than just hardening your software. The year 2020 saw a dramatic rise in cyberattacks, with many attacks specifically targeting IT infrastructure. Any attack that compromises an IT environment interrupts normal operations, which can effectively interrupt critical software operations. Regardless of how secure your software is, if you can’t access critical data or services, your application won’t be available to authorized users. And since availability is one of the “big three” tenets of security, unavailable effectively means insecure. Ensuring software security is an organic and community-driven effort. For the most effective result, focus on actions that provide benefits for your software and its surrounding environment. The last thing you want to do is constantly put out fires. A better approach is to get ahead of the fires. Learn to anticipate attacks and take proactive measures. Here are some ways to create a balanced threat-handling environment to make your software more secure. Responding to attacks The first step to handling any attack is to recognize that there is an attack being carried out. That may sound simple, but in many cases it isn’t. Non-disruptive attacks like data exfiltration may go unnoticed for months. Security is challenging even under normal circumstances, and the problem of handling attacks is even worse given the pressures of today’s realities. Organizations of all types were put under more pressure when the new realities of covid-19 changed the way people work and interact. But few sectors were impacted more than healthcare. In addition to changes in the workforce and patient interaction protocols, covid-19 stretched every aspect of delivering quality healthcare. IT service and security concerns were just one part of the bigger problem. And in the midst of all the additional pressure, ransomware attackers sensed an opportunity and launched an unprecedented number of attacks against the healthcare sector. For example, in October 2020, the University of Vermont (UVM) Medical Center suffered a successful ransomware attack that ended up disabling all online systems for several weeks. At first it wasn’t evident that the interruption was an attack, but once the nature of the attack did become clear, UVM personnel searched for nearly two hours before they found a file that contained a note from the attackers. CNN picked up on the alarming statistics and published a story about the UVM Medical Center attack, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published an advisory warning of the increasing number of ransomware attacks on healthcare organizations. UVM had taken some precautions to harden their systems, but the attackers were still able to succeed. While there is no guaranteed approach that leads to an impenetrable defense, there are ways to make your organization far less vulnerable. There is a constant need to iterate over updated threat information to stay ahead of the attackers. The goal is to approach the problems of security in parallel. If all you do is respond when you receive a new attack alert, you’re […]
