Hospitals Urged to Adopt Zero Trust Architecture to Combat Data Breaches and Medical Errors
Hospital leaders and IT teams worldwide are urged to adopt Zero Trust architecture to bolster cybersecurity. This comes as unsafe care and data breaches pose significant threats, with half of harmful incidents preventable and many due to medical errors.
The Zero Trust model shifts the default from trusting all users and devices to continuously verifying and limiting access. This approach enhances visibility into network activity, making it easier to spot unusual behaviour. It also reduces potential damage during breaches by restricting access to only what's necessary.
Perimeter firewalls alone are insufficient to prevent lateral movement of threats within hospital networks. Continuous monitoring and automated responses are crucial for swift detection and containment in healthcare environments. This is particularly important given the trend towards data theft and leak, which accounted for 32% of observed incidents in 2024.
To implement Zero Trust, hospital leaders must secure buy-in from top management, identify and prioritize critical assets, and strengthen identity and access management. Microsegmenting networks and isolating critical systems can also help contain incidents and protect care-critical systems.
Adopting Zero Trust architecture is vital for hospitals to mitigate risks from data breaches and unsafe care. By continuously verifying access and limiting privileges, hospitals can enhance security, improve visibility, and reduce potential damage from cyber threats.
