SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 5, 2022
/PRNewswire/ — As healthcare providers use digital devices such as
diagnostic and monitoring systems, ambulance equipment, and surgical
robots to improve patient care, the security of those devices is as
important as their primary function. Today, Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW)
announced Medical IoT Security — the most comprehensive Zero Trust
security solution for medical devices — enabling healthcare
organizations to deploy and manage new connected technologies quickly
and securely. Zero Trust is a strategic approach to cybersecurity that
secures an organization by eliminating implicit trust by continuously
verifying every user and device.
“The proliferation of connected medical devices in the healthcare
industry brings a wealth of benefits, but these devices are often not
well secured. For example, according to Unit 42,
an alarming 75% of smart infusion pumps examined on the networks of
hospitals and healthcare organizations had known security gaps,” said Anand Oswal,
senior vice president of products, network security at Palo Alto
Networks. “This makes security devices an attractive target for
cyberattackers, potentially exposing patient data and ultimately putting
patients at risk.”
While a Zero Trust approach is critical to help protect medical
devices against today’s innovative cyberthreats, it can be hard to
implement in practice. Through automated device discovery, contextual
segmentation, least privilege policy recommendations and one-click
enforcement of policies, Palo Alto Networks Medical IoT Security
delivers a Zero Trust approach in a seamless, simplified manner. Medical
IoT Security also provides best-in-class threat protection through
seamless integration with Palo Alto Networks cloud-delivered security
services, such as Advanced Threat Prevention and Advanced URL Filtering.
The new Palo Alto Networks Medical IoT Security uses machine learning (ML) to enable healthcare organizations to:
- Create device rules with automated security responses: Easily
create rules that monitor devices for behavioral anomalies and
automatically trigger appropriate responses. For example, if a medical
device that typically only sends small amounts of data unexpectedly
begins to use a lot of bandwidth, the device can be cut off from the
internet and security teams can be alerted. - Automate Zero Trust policy recommendations and enforcement:
Enforce recommended least-privileged access policies for medical devices
with one click using Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls or
supported network enforcement technologies. This eliminates error-prone
and time-consuming manual policy creation and scales easily across a set
of devices with the same profile. - Understand device vulnerabilities and risk posture: Access
each medical device’s Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) and map them to
Common Vulnerability Exposures (CVEs). This mapping helps identify the
software libraries used on medical devices and any associated
vulnerabilities. Get immediate insights into the risk posture of each
device, including end-of-life status, recall notification, default
password alert and unauthorized external website communication. - Improve compliance: Easily understand medical device
vulnerabilities, patch status and security settings, and then get
recommendations to bring devices into compliance with rules and
guidelines, such as the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act
(HIPAA), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and similar laws and
regulations. - Verify network segmentation: Visualize the entire map of
connected devices and ensure each device is placed in its designated
network segment. Proper network segmentation can ensure a device only
communicates with authorized systems. - Simplify operations: Two distinct dashboards allow IT and
biomedical engineering teams to each see the information critical to
their roles. Integration with existing healthcare information management
systems, like AIMS and Epic Systems, helps automate workflows.
Healthcare organizations are using Palo Alto Networks products to
secure the devices that deliver cutting-edge care to millions of
patients all over the world.
“Establishing and maintaining acute situational awareness of the
Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) environment is paramount to
establishing an effective enterprise cybersecurity program. The ability
to accurately detect, identify and respond to cyber threats is critical
to ensuring minimal operational impact to clinical operations during a
cyber event,” said Tony Lakin, CISO,
Moffitt Cancer Center. “Palo Alto Networks IoT capability seamlessly
integrates with our continuous monitoring processes and threat-hunting
operations. The platform consistently provides my teams with actionable
information to allow them to proactively manage the threat surface of
our medical device portfolio.”
“With thousands of devices to manage, healthcare environments are
extremely complex and require intelligent security solutions capable of
doing more. Palo Alto Networks understands this requirement and is
leveraging machine learning (ML) for Medical IoT security. Adding
intelligence will enable providers to improve operational efficiency,
which will enhance patient and practitioner experience and alleviate the
burden of an ongoing IT skills shortage,” said Bob Laliberte, principal analyst, ESG.
“Healthcare providers continue to be high-value targets for
attackers. This reality, combined with the diversity of medical IoT
devices and their inherent vulnerabilities, points to a real need for
device security that is purpose-built for healthcare use cases. The
ability to defend against threats targeting critical care devices while
maintaining operational availability and strengthening the alignment of
device governance responsibilities between IT and Biomed engineering
teams is quickly becoming a necessity for the protection of patient data
and lives,” said Ed Lee, research director, IoT and Intelligent Edge Security, IDC.
More Information
- Learn more about Medical IoT Security here.
- Read the Medical IoT Security announcement blog here.
- Register to attend the Palo Alto Networks Ignite Conference on Dec. 12th – 15th, 2022, here.
- Follow Palo Alto Networks on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
Availability
Medical IoT Security will be available in January 2023.
About Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks is the world’s cybersecurity leader. We innovate
to outpace cyber threats, so organizations can embrace technology with
confidence. We provide next-gen cybersecurity to thousands of customers
globally, across all sectors. Our best-in-class cybersecurity platforms
and services are backed by industry-leading threat intelligence and
strengthened by state-of-the-art automation. Whether deploying our
products to enable the Zero Trust Enterprise, responding to a security
incident, or partnering to deliver better security outcomes through a
world-class partner ecosystem, we’re committed to helping ensure each
day is safer than the one before. It’s what makes us the cybersecurity
partner of choice.
At Palo Alto Networks, we’re committed to bringing together the very
best people in service of our mission, so we’re also proud to be the
cybersecurity workplace of choice, recognized among Newsweek’s Most
Loved Workplaces (2021), Comparably Best Companies for Diversity (2021),
and HRC Best Places for LGBTQ Equality (2022). For more information,
visit www.paloaltonetworks.com.
Palo Alto Networks and the Palo Alto Networks logo are registered trademarks of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. in the United States
and in jurisdictions throughout the world. All other trademarks, trade
names, or service marks used or mentioned herein belong to their
respective owners. Any unreleased services or features (and any services
or features not generally available to customers) referenced in this or
other press releases or public statements are not currently available
(or are not yet generally available to customers) and may not be
delivered when expected or at all. Customers who purchase Palo Alto
Networks applications should make their purchase decisions based on
services and features currently generally available.
SOURCE: Palo Alto Networks Inc.
Source: www.darkreading.com