Overcoming Cyber Security Challenges in the Medical Field

Assessing the Risk Landscape

Most healthcare organizations know the importance of an effective cyber security strategy. However, manually checking thousands of systems for vulnerabilities turned out to be ineffective and time-consuming. Ken Bontinck, Security Expert at ZNA, explains that before using Holm Security VMP (Vulnerability Management Platform), they had tried open-source solutions, self-written scripts, and internet tools to map security risks. They had previously been contacted by comparable suppliers of Vulnerability Management solutions at a financially unfeasible range. Deciding to go with Holm Security VMP came down to its fair price and being a European provider.

Holm Security personally contacted us during the first Corona wave in the context of a broader initiative to help hospitals with their cyber security during the COVID-19 pandemic. A Proof of Concept was then offered free of charge. Since there was a lot of room to improve the current process, we thought it was a good idea to evaluate the solution in our environment and thus experience the added value.

All from the Same Platform

Holm Security VMP has saved ZNA a lot of time compared to the manual work in the past. Being able to automatically and agentless scan entire network segments or web applications and get a good overview of the vulnerabilities found has simplified ZNA's remediation process. Reports help to aid discussions with internal and external parties (e.g., suppliers of medical software or equipment). With the increase of sophisticated social engineering, especially phishing and spear phishing, ZNA has also run phishing simulations on employees. Phishing simulation and awareness training are done directly from the platform.

In this way, we get a complete picture of how vulnerable we are as an organization by continuously monitoring our systems and employees.

Improving Cyber Security in the COVID-19 Pandemic

After a successful PoC, to evaluate the platform, the PoC environment converted into a production environment. Ken describes the set-up as one of the fastest done at ZNA.

During the start-up, we were able to find a lot ourselves thanks to the good documentation, and if anything, we could count on the support of the Customer Success team. We have been very satisfied with the support and personal follow-up from Holm Security. Holm Security also has an extensive and clear knowledge database that is otherwise helpful.

Business-Critical Systems & Solutions

With many different software and hardware solutions for medical purposes and IT purposes (infrastructure and applications), and many of them business-critical, the importance of safely monitoring systems and having a good overview of all vulnerabilities is all so important. However, identifying risks and vulnerabilities in today's rapidly changing threat landscape is not easy.