As healthcare systems look to strengthen their cybersecurity, protecting the workflows and processes directly related to patient care must be top of mind. Ensuring that a clinical device will always be working properly when it’s required for a patient or that staff members are able to effectively and efficiently carry out day-to-day operations is the cornerstone of Clinical Zero Trust and the strategy behind it.
But implementing a robust Clinical Zero Trust strategy takes time, the right policies, and the tools to overcome the greatest challenges associated with it. Before you can move towards adopting a Clinical Zero Trust program in your healthcare system, it’s essential to face these challenges head on and understand the right solutions.
What is Clinical Zero Trust?
The term Zero Trust refers to a specific cybersecurity framework. Zero Trust isn’t a product, but rather a strategy built around the idea that networks are inherently compromised. Therefore, users are denied access to applications and data as a default and only granted access once authenticated. Even then they are limited in what they can do on the network as determined by their given level of privileges.
When the principles of Zero Trust are applied to the healthcare setting, that is Clinical Zero Trust. The difference between implementing Zero Trust in a healthcare setting is that instead of just protecting devices and data, the goal of Clinical Zero Trust is also to protect the physical workflows of care delivery, including the people and processes responsible.
Achieving Clinical Zero Trust requires a comprehensive tech stack of solutions that work together. Zero Trust is a complex process and cannot be achieved with one vendor alone. Understanding how each component of your tech stack works together to achieve the goal of Clinical Zero Trust is essential as you look to implement and scale your cybersecurity strategy.
Top 5 Challenges to Clinical Zero Trust
When healthcare systems adopt a Clinical Zero Trust strategy, they are protecting not only the devices in their network but more importantly the patients. The goal of Clinical Zero Trust is first and foremost to protect the delivery of care, so having a strategy of maintaining the integrity of all security controls and care protocols puts the patient first.
Implementing a Clinical Zero Trust program is a complex process, however, and it’s important to understand the hurdles to implementing the right strategy. Facing these challenges head on will help your healthcare system find the right solution to advance your organization’s cybersecurity goals.
Challenge #1: Lack of governance
One of the leading hindrances to Clinical Zero Trust, and cybersecurity in healthcare more broadly, is blindspots on your network due to using traditional IT processes and procedures. When you don’t know every device connected to your network, these blindspots can introduce risk. If you do have a discovery solution in place, you may not have the right controls to fully protect and secure devices while taking into account the unique nuances of patient care. Having an accurate asset inventory and comprehensive visibility can give you the full view of what internet-connected devices are on your network.
Challenge #2: Limited understanding of device visibility and communications
Asset visibility is a critical foundation for Clinical Zero Trust, but so is a deep understanding of your network traffic. Not only knowing the devices connected to your network but also how they communicate, how often they do so, and which devices they’re communicating with is essential. Having a baseline of your network traffic can help establish a baseline so you can more readily identify abnormal device communication or help you implement the best processes and procedures for your environment’s requirements.
Challenge #3: Dependence on OEMs
To maintain devices, you need access to important medical device information like the device’s lifecycle and security controls, which are often maintained by the medical device manufacturers (MDM). Whether you’re trying to access a device for security or maintenance reasons, anytime you have to work with a vendor or third-party it can be challenging. Having the right relationship with the MDM can help you locate important product information, like how to properly manage the device or patch it if a vulnerability is discovered. Utilizing the manufacturer disclosure statement (MDS2) directory can be a critical tool if the MDM provides you with it.
Challenge #4: Device vulnerabilities
Identifying and addressing device vulnerabilities is always a challenge, whether your organization is adopting zero trust measures or not. And once device vulnerabilities are identified, facing an ever growing list of exposures and knowing which ones to address first is time consuming and difficult on hospital security teams. That’s why a robust exposure management strategy that not only identifies exposures but also offers remediation and prioritization insights based on the impact they pose to patient care.
Challenge #5: Lacking third-party access controls and complex identity management
A core aspect of Clinical Zero Trust is authenticating a user’s credentials to ensure they only receive the access privileges afforded to their needs. Without a secure access solution, verifying and authenticating identity and controlling access is difficult, and with third-party vendors performing critical tasks, having visibility into what remote users are doing on the network is a core component of a healthcare system’s cybersecurity. But even with secure access, implementing the right user controls can be a challenge. According to the 2024 Global State of CPS Security survey, 44% of hospitals have six or more secure access solutions but lack a clear view into remote connections, preventing them from implementing the proper controls. Having the right tech stack with secure access that facilitates correct identification and controls for users is imperative on the way to Clinical Zero Trust.
Addressing the Challenges
Clinical Zero Trust and the many challenges associated with adopting a thorough strategy cannot be solved with one silver bullet or one perfect solution, but rather several key elements that work together. Within that tech stack, Claroty offers solutions tailored to the needs and requirements of healthcare systems. By facing each of these challenges head on, Claroty xDome for healthcare provides the unique capabilities that rectify these hurdles.
Claroty xDome’s solution is comprehensive and data-driven that revolves around five phases, each seeking to advance your organization’s Clinical Zero Trust strategy and combat common pitfalls.
Solution #1: Identify your assets
To address the asset visibility issues raised in Challenge #1, gaining a deep understanding of your clinical environment and the connected devices is the first step. Utilizing a discovery tool to find modality (type, make, model), version (OS type, versions), location (SSID, access point, AP location), and more, not only helps you gain knowledge about your environment but is a key part of understanding third-party access requirements that vendor engineers must know to perform their jobs.
Solution #2: Define your network
Mapping the usage of each device uncovers important information about how devices talk to one another, including which devices they communicate, how, when, and why. The best solutions can leverage relationships with manufacturers and research teams to constantly learn more about how these devices work, from communication patterns to accepted use scenarios. Pairing this with risk profiling to assess connectivity, exposures, and exploitability, offer the right tools to properly define your network protection needs.
Solution #3: Design a strategy
Your organization has a unique risk tolerance and any Clinical Zero Trust strategy should be molded to the needs and requirements of your healthcare system. A solution like xDome automatically recommends segmentation policies on which traffic should be allowed and which should be prevented based specifically on your environment and your organization’s defined requirements.
Solution #4: Monitor the environment
Once your individualized policies are in place, it’s time to monitor the environment and see the impact of your enforced policies. This is best done with an insight tool that can track whether trial policies are helpful. As you monitor, you have the opportunity to continuously improve internal security processes, identify failures, improper design, or glitches to ensure your strategy is working correctly.
Solutions #5: Automate your processes
If you’ve taken the time to make modifications to your policies and processes after monitoring and improving them, then at some point you will have found the proper architecture for your aims and objectives. Automating these procedures is the final step to achieving your best possible Clinical Zero Trust strategy for your environment.
Adopting an end-to-end Clinical Zero Trust journey starts with assembling the right solutions. Claroty xDome addresses your most critical risks, delivers deep visibility, and offers insights and recommendations for network protection and exposure management. By adding Claroty xDome to your tech stack on your way to Clinical Zero Trust will enable your organization to develop a clear cut strategy that prioritizes patient care and protects the workflows your organization depends on.
To see how Claroty xDome can help enable your adoption of Clinical Zero Trust policies and procedures, speak to a member of our dedicated healthcare cybersecurity team.
