In the wake of a recent breach that compromised sensitive information, a healthcare organization sought my guidance on how to significantly enhance their security posture. Drawing from my experience as a former Chief Information Officer (CIO), I developed a comprehensive framework aimed at strengthening foundational security measures, improving rapid response capabilities, and integrating application security strategies. These initiatives are all embedded within a sustainable Security by Design framework, ensuring long-term resilience and adaptability.
The post-breach strategy I outlined is based on what I would implement if I were serving as the organization’s CIO. This tailored approach focuses on four key areas to address immediate security vulnerabilities while building a durable foundation for continuous improvement.
- Leverage Autonomous Penetration Testing to Identify and Prioritize Vulnerabilities
The first step in fortifying a healthcare organization’s security is to efficiently identify and address exploitable vulnerabilities within their IT infrastructure. The goal here is to focus on software misconfigurations, known exploitable vulnerabilities, weak credentials, and other suboptimal security measures that could serve as entry points for attackers.
To achieve this, I recommended using an autonomous penetration testing approach to continuously detect, catalog, and prioritize exploitable vulnerabilities across the organization’s entire on-prem, cloud, and hybrid environments, giving the security team an accurate and up-to-date picture of their risk landscape.
The outcome of using this approach is prioritization of risk, then applying mitigation that leads to immediate and long-term risk reduction. Security teams should focus on remediating vulnerabilities that pose the greatest risk first. By progressively minimizing the exploitable attack surface, the organization can reduce the potential of another breach while concentrating their resources where they are needed most.
Rationale: Security gaps at the infrastructure level are often easier for attackers to exploit because they tend to be more prevalent and simpler to target compared to application-level vulnerabilities. By addressing these weaknesses first, the organization can create a more secure baseline and reduce the overall risk of future breaches.
- Benchmark and Enhance Security Operations Center (SOC) Response Times
A critical aspect of strengthening a healthcare organization’s security is improving the efficiency and responsiveness of the Security Operations Center (SOC) and/or IT security teams. The ability to detect and respond to threats quickly and accurately is essential for minimizing the impact of any compromise.
To improve their SOC effectiveness, I recommended a two-pronged approach. First, the organization should assess and benchmark its current SOC performance using autonomous penetration testing to understand baseline incident detections and response times, and then identify areas for improvement. Second, they should refine their alert settings to reduce noise and focus on high-priority threats. This can be accomplished by simplifying decision-making processes and streamlining response workflows.
Equally important is leadership communication. There must be clear and direct protocols for notifying senior leadership promptly in the event of a security incident, ensuring that decision-makers are informed and can take swift action if necessary.
Rationale: By improving the operational efficiency of the SOC, the organization can reduce the time it takes to detect and neutralize threats, which is critical in a fast-paced healthcare environment where downtime and security incidents can have significant consequences.
- Strengthen Application Security
In addition to infrastructure vulnerabilities, custom applications developed in-house represent another potential attack vector. Enhancing the security of these applications is a vital part of any post-breach recovery strategy.
I recommended incorporating advanced application security testing tools such as SAST and DAST into the software development lifecycle. By doing so, the organization can proactively identify and address security vulnerabilities before their applications are deployed.
Another important aspect is creating and maintaining a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), which tracks all open-source libraries and components used in their custom applications. This ensures that third-party components are properly vetted and that any vulnerabilities within them are quickly identified and remediated.
Additionally, a strong emphasis should be placed on API security, especially given the prevalence of third-party integrations in healthcare environments. Documenting all APIs ensures that shadow or zombie APIs—those that are undocumented or no longer in use—are properly managed or decommissioned.
Finally, I suggested implementing a bug bounty program to collaborate with external security experts in identifying and resolving vulnerabilities in custom applications. This provides an extra layer of scrutiny and insight from the global security community.
Rationale: Strengthening application security through a combination of internal testing, external collaboration, detailed component tracking, API documentation allows the organization to reduce vulnerabilities that could otherwise lead to costly breaches. By proactively addressing these risks, the organization can safeguard patient data and maintain regulatory compliance.
- Integrate Security Enhancements into a Long-Term Security by Design Framework
While addressing immediate vulnerabilities is crucial, it is equally important to develop a long-term strategy that ensures continuous security improvements. This is where a Security by Design framework comes into play.
I advised the organization to embed continuous security assessments into the daily operations of its infrastructure, SOC, and applications. This approach ensures that security becomes a foundational aspect of all technology and organizational processes, rather than an afterthought.
A Security by Design framework allows the organization to proactively predict and prepare for future attacks, rather than just reacting to existing vulnerabilities. By fostering a culture of continuous improvement, the organization can stay ahead of emerging threats and maintain a resilient security posture.
Rationale: Embedding security into every layer of the organization’s operations creates a proactive and adaptable defense strategy. This not only helps in mitigating current risks but also prepares the organization to handle future challenges more effectively.
Conclusion
By presenting this strategy to the healthcare organization, I aimed to help them tackle both immediate vulnerabilities and create a sustainable foundation for ongoing security improvements. The approach focused on strengthening infrastructure security, improving SOC responsiveness, enhancing application security, and integrating these enhancements into a comprehensive Security by Design framework. Implementing these measures would effectively safeguard the organization from future cyber threats, ensuring trust among patients and partners alike.
For more details on how to implement a similar strategy, download our white paper: Enhancing Cybersecurity Post-Breach: A Comprehensive Guide.
About the Author
Snehal Antani is the CEO and Co-founder of Horizon3.ai. Prior to Horizon3.ai, he was a CTO in the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), the CTO of Splunk, and a CIO within GE Capital. Snehal holds 18 patents granted by the USPTO in data processing, cloud computing, and virtualization. He often writes articles on leadership, innovation, digital transformation, data security, and cloud security.
Snehal can be reached online via LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter) and at our company website https://www.horizon3.ai/
