Overview

Healthcare may not be as glamorous of a target for cybercriminals as the Banking or Tech sector, but a cyber attack on a healthcare organization can literally kill someone. If you were to find yourself ina medical crisis and your local hospital infrastructure was crippled by a nasty cyber bug - you’re all but done for.

The healthcare industry relies on collaboration between multiple agencies - you’ve got your hospitals, you’ve got your pharma companies, you’ve got your insurance sca - ahem, providers. And all of this interoperability opens up a large attack surface.

This case study explores how a non-profit healthcare organization, with a massive interconnected ecosystem was struggling to sustainably protect their cyberspace. This was primarily with respect to user logins, auditing and controlling access to sensitive information. And since their entire ecosystem was split into multiple systems, a unified login and monitoring system was just the thing that the doctor prescribed - get it? No? Moving on.

Prerequisites:

In this section, we’ll discuss everything from requirements and implementation process to results.

miniOrange SAML SP Module

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miniOrange Session Management module

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The Unseen Threat: Why Healthcare Needs Cybersecurity

The scale of cyber threats against healthcare became chillingly clear in early 2024 when Change Healthcare, a vital link in the industry's billing and data transfer system, was attacked. This wasn't a hospital, but the "glue" holding healthcare together.

The fallout was massive, impacting an estimated one in three Americans and leading to $15 billion in annual claims. This incident highlighted how disruptions to even seemingly invisible systems can cripple patient care and financial operations, costing providers up to $100 million daily. The fact that 90% of the cyberattacks on healthcare or related organizations are successful should be enough to make your hunt for a cybersecurity vendor a top priority.

Our client, averted potential security breaches such as unauthorised access and exposed user information by implementing the magic of Single Sign On (SSO) + Session Management. One strengthens login security and the other blocks unwanted access, watches authorized sessions, evaluates the user activity, and even terminates potentially malicious sessions.

The Digital Master Key - SSO:

• Unified authentication across multiple sites: One set of login credentials grants access to all resources and eliminates repeated login prompts, eliminates reused passwords and eliminates forgotten credentials; That means enhanced user experience.
• Centralised user identity management: Simplifies onboarding and offboarding by managing user creds and permissions from a single system.
• Reduced attack surface: Fewer passwords to remember means less chance if they are being compromised. It’s security, simplified.

The savvy perks of Session Management:

• Login and logout auditing: For a medical entity this is golden. Every login and every logout is precisely timestamped - a complete and trustworthy audit.
• Global session control: Logging out from one site terminates the sessions across all connected platforms as well as prevents lingering active sessions.
• Granular access restriction: Set IP based restrictions, Location based restrictions and even time of day restrictions and enable access limitations based on device type and user role. This means only the right people, from the right places, on the right devices, could get in.
• Force logout: Admins can terminate any session in real time instantly.
• User time management: Limit the number of active sessions per user simultaneously; this prevents account sharing and enhances accountability.
• Session timeout: Automatically logs out users after a set/specified period of inactivity.

Implementation

When a user is logged into one site, their session is created across all connected sites. The users would no longer need to enter passwords on each individual site providing seamless user experience - this is Single Sign On. It’s not a blackbox implementation - this solution uses the industry standard SAML 2.0 protocol to establish trust between the Identity Authority and the connected services.

At the moment of login, a detailed audit log is generated, capturing information such as the user's email, timestamp, IP address, and device details. All this data is not rifted out to a cloud server - the solution is completely on-premise.

If any of the login activity parameters - be it the IP address, the timestamp, the location or the device from which the login is attempted - seem out of order, or seem like a penetration attempt, the user and the attempt is blocked right away.

If the user accesses sensitive or confidential information such as patient records - those actions can also be recorded in real-time, supporting HIPAA compliance and organizational audit requirements. Again - all the data remains within the client’s environment.

When a user logs out of any site, that session is instantly terminated across the entire network, preventing unauthorized access from lingering sessions and maintaining a high level of control and security.

Building up to rock-solid security:

SSO + Session Management - this dynamic duo together form a tight, zero-trust solution:

• Unified logs mean threats don't hide in isolated systems. Automated account management means no more zombie accounts that can be born.
• Shrinks the attack surface - fewer passwords floating around, fewer chances of phishing.
• The central console lets you control user access and take important action instantly before an incident spreads.
• Enforcement of HIPAA and internal policies keeps auditors happy.

One seamless login + intelligent session controls = faster care delivery, less IT hassle, and a secure posture for all of healthcare.