Healthcare IT Modernization and Security Challenges
Healthcare IT leaders recognize that outdated infrastructure puts patient data at risk. However, modernizing to cloud, hybrid, or colocated environments introduces new security vulnerabilities. Modern platforms offer better scalability and operational agility but require more coordinated security frameworks to defend against sophisticated attacks.
“Modern security tools are designed for modern infrastructure, which creates challenges for legacy systems,” says Craig Connors, Vice President and CTO for Security at Cisco. This often forces healthcare organizations to adopt multiple, fragmented solutions: one for modern workloads and another for legacy systems. This fragmentation can lead to blind spots, particularly dangerous in healthcare where protected health information (PHI) is a prime target.
As systems expand into the cloud, the attack surface grows, making consistent, centralized security policy enforcement essential. “Sensitive patient data like PHI is a prime target for threats such as ransomware, phishing attacks, and insider breaches,” says Gagan Gulati, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Data Services at NetApp. These risks jeopardize data, lead to severe financial repercussions, and damage patient trust.
Deploying hybrid and multicloud infrastructure adds complexity with inconsistent security tools, multiple administrative consoles, and varied access models. Connors notes that public cloud providers offer native security tools, but they often lack healthcare-specific visibility or integration required for enterprisewide oversight. In multicloud configurations, these disparities multiply.
Unified Security Platforms
To address this, IT teams are turning to unified security platforms that span infrastructure types and provide a consistent policy layer. Connors emphasizes the importance of centralized oversight, particularly when managing sensitive workloads across multiple environments. “Leveraging platforms that unify security policies and provide centralized management — a ‘single pane of glass’ — is critical,” he says.
Gulati stresses that visibility and governance are as important as encryption. “Hybrid and multicloud environments add another layer of complexity with multiple control levels and the challenge of managing data sprawl,” he explains. A key concern with modernization is not only internal misconfiguration but also increased exposure to third-party risk. Open-source libraries and external vendors become part of the attack surface.
Best Practices for Secure Modernization
Gulati recommends beginning any infrastructure modernization effort with a comprehensive security assessment. Alignment with standards such as HIPAA and encrypting data in transit and at rest are baseline practices. “It’s critical to choose a HIPAA-compliant cloud provider and encrypt data using the latest industry-standard protocols,” he advises.
Connors highlights the importance of frameworks like NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework and HITRUST, along with zero-trust models. “Zero trust operates on the principle of assuming the network is already compromised,” he explains. This identity-centric model replaces traditional perimeter-based defenses, which are increasingly ineffective in distributed environments.
Identity-Centric Security Approach
Ultimately, the move to cloud-based and hybrid infrastructure cannot be decoupled from security strategy. Healthcare providers must design modernization and security together from the start. “Successful modernization is about selecting trusted, proven vendors who offer comprehensive data security across hybrid and multicloud environments,” Gulati says.
A forward-looking security model based on zero-trust principles, real-time monitoring, and unified governance must become the standard for healthcare infrastructure modernization. “Modernization is not just about adopting new software; it’s about adopting a new approach to security,” Connors concludes.
