What is Healthcare Managed Detection and Response (MDR)

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solutions are designed to protect sensitive data. Within a healthcare setting, MDR is especially important for ensuring the security of patient data and medical devices.

Given the ever-growing utilisation of smart health, such as Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices, improving network security is essential for meeting the demands of healthcare regulations.

In this article we discuss how MDR can achieve compliance by combining detection technologies with analysis, often employing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning in order to ascertain potential threats, including zero-day, all in real-time.

How MDR is Tailored for Healthcare

Within the healthcare industry, data breaches are arguably network administrators greatest concern. This is due not only to the large amount of regulations regarding handling healthcare data but also the physical interferences to patient care that a breach can cause.

MDR solutions assist healthcare providers with maintaining regulatory compliance for worldwide regulations like HIPAA, PIPEDA and GDPR.

Key Components of Healthcare MDR

In order to maintain continuous protection against breaches, MDR is made up of multiple key components.

24/7 Threat Monitoring

The first of these, 24/7 Threat Monitoring, is leveraged to provide round-the-clock monitoring of the network, scanning to find potential indications of breaches. Monitoring is often provided via a Security Operation Centre (SOC), where cybersecurity experts from a vendor view traffic from healthcare networks, cloud applications, medical devices and Electronic Health Records (EHR) to ensure there are no signs of malicious activity.

By utilising external expertise to monitor for potential threats, healthcare providers can catch issues in real-time, detecting threats early and preventing potential disruptions to patient care before they even get a chance to disrupt patient care.

Incident Detection and Response

Whilst threat monitoring can detect issues, having an Incident Detection and Response (IDR) plan is essential for healthcare providers to quickly and appropriately respond to different types of threats. MDR solutions implement IDR through a combination of automated analytics and human expertise, integrating artificial intelligence with real human intelligence to deliver the best possible response to threats.

As a standard, the typical response model aims to detect any potential threats within a single minute, allowing for investigation or sandboxing within 10 minutes and remediation within an hour. By doing so, MDR has a quick turnaround that prevents threats from growing, protecting the network from having patient data exfiltrated or care systems experiencing downtime.

Advanced Threat Intelligence

Advanced Threat Intelligence within MDR uses machine learning algorithms to analyse big datasets, quickly learning from pattern-matching against other known threats from not only healthcare provider’s own networks but other networks too. This means that zero-day threats can be detected and prevented even if their nature isn’t yet known.

Given there are so many threats emerging that are unique to healthcare, with ransomware, attacks on IoMT, DOS and more, the use of healthcare-specific threat data is the best way for healthcare providers to stay one step ahead.

Why Healthcare Needs Specialised MDR

Protection of Sensitive Patient Data

As most network administrators within the healthcare sector will already know, patient and healthcare data is amongst the most sensitive and valuable data, which makes it a target for attackers.

MDR services protect this data through the combination of its threat monitoring, IDR and threat intelligence, helping healthcare providers not only comply with regulations but also with laws such as HIPAA in the US.

By focusing on protecting such data, MDR prevents breaches that could expose patients’ personal health information (PHI), therefore helping the healthcare provider to build trust with patients, whilst also protecting patients from data leak-linked activities such as fraud.

Safeguarding Medical Devices

Another reason the healthcare industry needs specialised MDR is in order to protect medical devices. Pacemakers, infusion pumps, blood pressure monitors and diagnostic tools, all of these are being adapted into Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) solutions, moving these technologies all onto healthcare networks and introducing new potential vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit.

By implementing MDR, healthcare providers can place protective measures onto these devices despite their lack of inbuilt security features, detecting signs of tampering or unauthorised access to the system.

In the event of a breach however, MDR can use segmentation to quickly isolate the compromised devices and protect from any breaches moving laterally across the network, minimising the volume of downtime to patient care.

Complex IT Environments

IoMT and other new technologies aren’t the end of the complexity though, with a mix of legacy systems, Electronic Health Record (EHR) solutions, cloud applications and specialised medical technologies all forming a larger offering from healthcare providers, the network used to house them all is bound to have innate vulnerabilities.

MDR solutions, monitoring the network, are designed to protect these vulnerabilities by intercepting traffic and responding to threats in real-time. By integrating with existing tools, MDR can reduce the risks associated with outdated software or unpatched vulnerabilities, especially when utilising a vast threat intelligence network.

Features Tailored for Healthcare MDR

Customised Threat Detection Rules

Depending on the provider, MDR policies and configurations can differ, however all of which can be configured in some degree to detect more healthcare-specific threats.

One example of how MDR can cater to the requirements of the healthcare industry is through customised rules. These rules can be used to target specific threats (e.g. ransomware attacks on electronic health records), allowing for MDR to quickly intervene and protect patient records from unauthorised access.

Compliance-Focused Reporting

To ensure that the healthcare industry is following regulations, healthcare providers are audited frequently. For example, in the UK, the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) audits healthcare providers in England and Wales.  To assist with this, MDR services help maintain compliance by generating detailed, audit-ready reports that documents the lifecycle of each incident. These typically cover:

• Initial investigation
• Response actions taken
• Necessary remediation(s)

These reports provide all the information to enable more efficient audit processes and gives a clear indication that the healthcare provider is demonstrating commitments to meeting compliance demands.

Incident Response Playbooks for Healthcare

When considering the response actions that MDR solutions can take towards a threat, an incident response playbook can detail the appropriate actions based on common healthcare incidents. For example, threats like ransomware, unauthorised access to patient records and disruptions to medical devices all require individual responses tailored to the nuances of each threat. By following these standardised processes, MDR can quickly and effectively respond to threats, minimising the impact on patient care and operations.

Benefits of MDR for Healthcare Organisations

Reduced Risk of Data Breaches

Managed Detection and Response’s primary benefit is the reduced risk of data breaches. From the continuous monitoring provided by both AI and human expertise, to the incident response policies detailed in the playbook, MDR is ideal for quickly detecting and preventing threats before they can exfiltrate patient data. This proactive approach is essential for healthcare providers to prevent potentially very costly breaches and ensures the confidentiality of sensitive health data.

Improved Operational Resilience

Due to the duty of care that comes with services offered in the healthcare industry, it’s important that care, smart medical devices and EHR access is uninterrupted. MDR assists in this process by identifying threats in the first minute, preventing them from causing any damage by catching them so early on.

Examples of Healthcare-Specific Threats

• Ransomware Attacks:

  These often target EHR systems, locking sensitive patient data and demanding ransom payments in order for it to be released. A successful ransomware attack can disrupt healthcare operations and delay patient care.

• Data Theft:

  Hackers frequently attempt to steal patient records due to their high value on the dark web. Stolen medical records can be used for identity theft, fraud or even unauthorised medical claims.

• Medical Devices:

  Attackers may exploit vulnerabilities in connected devices like infusion pumps or MRI machines, enabling the potential to inflict malice towards a patient. MDR services monitor these devices for abnormal activity and respond quickly to contain threats.

Choosing an MDR Provider for Healthcare

Industry Expertise

Given the differences in offerings between vendors, choosing a solution that has proven experience in the healthcare sector can be an easy way to find a more suitable MDR for your healthcare organisation. Certain vendors may offer success stories or case studies of how a vendor’s unique features assisted with preventing a particular threat and the healthcare industry should use these as recommendations in order to find the most appropriate solution.

Customisation and Scalability

For some healthcare providers, the issue is not necessarily to do with unique vendor offerings but the customisation and scalability on offer. Whilst an MDR could provide a myriad of complex tools, if it cannot scale to meet the demands of the use case then it’s not appropriate to deploy the solution.

By understanding this, healthcare providers should understand their network requirements, the scale of the network and associated technologies and the potential threats that they regularly face and then consider the best-fit solution to meet these demands.

Compliance Support

Finally, MDR vendors often provide compliance support with their solutions. As some are better implemented than others, understanding the extent of implementation, what regulatory compliance is supported (HIPAA, GDPR, PIPEDA) and what the reporting capabilities are I’m the event of an audit can be unique selling points that should not be ignored.