Protecting Application Workloads in Healthcare Through Zero Trust Approach
In the digital age, securing sensitive patient data has become a top priority for healthcare organizations. One approach gaining traction is the implementation of a zero-trust strategy, which ensures that no user, device, or workload is inherently trusted and must be continuously verified.
Peter Newton, senior director of products and solutions at Fortinet, explains that a zero-trust strategy includes strict identity verification and device posture checking for each user and application session. This strategy is particularly important for application workloads, such as those involving containers and serverless computing.
To implement a zero-trust strategy effectively, healthcare organizations follow key steps. First, they form a dedicated zero-trust team with expertise in various areas, including application, data, network, infrastructure, and device security.
Next, an asset inventory is conducted, listing all critical assets, their importance, and sensitivity. This inventory is crucial for controlling access to sensitive patient data and healthcare workloads like electronic health record applications or telemedicine.
Strict identity and machine authentication are then implemented, treating machine identities like users. Strong cryptographic authentication methods, such as mutual TLS certificates and ephemeral API tokens, are used, along with context-aware access decisions.
The principle of least privilege and dynamic access is applied, ensuring that healthcare workers only have the necessary permissions and that these are dynamically adjusted based on job functions. This minimizes insider threats and data breaches.
Micro-segmentation is used to create granular network zones, isolating workloads and applications, and preventing lateral movement of attackers within the healthcare network. Critical systems like patient information or research data are segmented from less sensitive systems to minimize breach impact.
Workload protection tools are deployed for containerized and serverless workloads, with pre-runtime and runtime protections scanning for vulnerabilities and monitoring for threats during workload execution. Application Control Engines that enforce immutable workloads and “lockdown” capabilities can reduce reliance on allowlists and protect cloud-native workloads.
Continuous monitoring and adaptive response are also essential. Behavioral analytics and continuous monitoring detect anomalous activities, and automated responses to suspicious actions help to rapidly mitigate risks.
Finally, healthcare organizations develop detailed migration plans, integrating with existing cybersecurity controls, incident response plans, and adhering to healthcare compliance and privacy regulations throughout the implementation.
In summary, healthcare organizations secure application workloads by meticulously verifying identities, enforcing least privilege at both user and machine levels, micro-segmenting networks, and deploying workload-specific protections with continuous dynamic monitoring. This approach protects sensitive healthcare data and applications from increasingly sophisticated threats, aligning with emerging best practices in zero-trust security for cloud-native environments.
In the realm of data-and-cloud-computing and technology, a zero-trust strategy is crucial for healthcare organizations to ensure cybersecurity, particularly for application workloads like containers and serverless computing. To implement this strategy effectively, healthcare organizations form a dedicated zero-trust team, conduct an asset inventory, implement strict identity and machine authentication, apply the principle of least privilege, use micro-segmentation, deploy workload protection tools, engage in continuous monitoring, and develop detailed migration plans. This approach helps protect sensitive healthcare data and applications from cyber threats.
