Healthcare organizations are under constant cyberattack and the consequences can be life-threatening. So why do these attacks keep succeeding despite increased cybersecurity budgets? According to Toon Vandendriessche, Illumio expert, the answer often lies in a forgotten foundation, network segmentation.
Cyberattacks that put lives at stake.
Healthcare organizations continue to be a target for cybercriminals. Patient data is incredibly valuable, and downtime in hospitals can literally put lives at risk.
If the systems of McDonald’s go offline, customers simply go elsewhere. But when a hospital’s IT infrastructure fails, surgeries are postponed, diagnoses are delayed, and patient outcomes are jeopardized. One recent example in London involved a lab services provider hit by a cyberattack, disrupting blood supply services to three major hospitals. The result? Delayed procedures and growing pressure on hospital staff.
Cybercriminals understand this high-stakes environment and they exploit it. The likelihood of a ransom being paid is far greater when lives are on the line. Everyone would do the same in such a situation where lives are at stake.
The real issue: weak security foundations
While healthcare providers have been investing more in cybersecurity, many still overlook the basics. We often see organizations rushing to adopt complex solutions while their servers remain unpatched and their networks are wide open.
Toon recently led a NIS2 workshop with a healthcare organization where it quickly became clear that foundational improvements were needed across their security environment. Yet, the organization initially identified the implementation of a Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution as their top priority, despite the fact that deeper issues, such as outdated systems and unrestricted lateral movement within the network, posed more immediate risks.
“When your systems haven’t been updated in five years and attackers can move laterally through your network without resistance, no PAM tool will protect you effectively.”
Read more about NIS2 and Illumio in the “Navigating NIS2 Compliance with Illumio” blog.
Network segmentation is essential
Microsegmentation or network segmentation, a key pillar of the Zero Trust-principle, is one of the most effective ways to limit the spread of attacks. But in reality, it’s rarely implemented well.
Why? Because most network security teams are still working with traditional tools that were built to defend the perimeter and not the internal network. Trying to retrofit segmentation with VLANs or static IP-based rules is both complex and fragile. One hardcoded IP in an application can break everything during a redesign.
Illumio: network segmentation without the headache
This is where Illumio comes to play. Instead of relying on network architecture or physical firewalls, Illumio takes advantage of something that already exists: the native firewalls in your operating systems. Whether it’s Windows or Linux, every system already has firewall capabilities. It often just lacks central visibility and control.
Illumio adds a lightweight agent (under 10MB) that works without reboots or downtime. It doesn’t perform the firewalling itself! It simply pulls data and centrally pushes policies to the system’s existing firewall. Even if the agent stops working, the policies remain active.
You can:
Gain visibility into all communication flows between workloads
Segment traffic based on application labels, not IPs.
Apply rules dynamically, even in a flat network or across data centers and cloud environments, all without any network changes.
And because the policies are label-based, not tied to infrastructure, moving a workload won’t break your security posture.
Illumio brings a crucial layer of visibility. You can finally see which systems are talking to each other, which ports are exposed, and where segmentation can reduce risk. It’s like turning the lights on in a room you thought you already knew.
Ready to explore Illumio for your organization?
Request a free demo and see how Illumio can help you implement effective network segmentation, boost your security posture, and reduce risk, without overhauling your infrastructure.
Interested to take a deep dive into this matter with one of our experts?
Do not hesitate to get in contact and book a meeting with one of our experts!
