To better understand how healthcare organizations are approaching Privileged Access Management, we spoke with Garrett McCarthy, Security Architect at K logix. As part of the cyber research team, Garrett evaluates security vendors using a proprietary, vendor agnostic methodology and leads PAM initiatives across customer environments.
Why Privileged Access Management (PAM) Matters in Healthcare
Healthcare organizations operate in an environment where security decisions may have immediate, real world consequences. Systems are not just supporting business operations, they are directly tied to patient care and the ability to deliver treatment without disruption.
Garrett shares, “PAM is vital for healthcare organizations to secure access to systems throughout an organization’s IT and healthcare infrastructure, many of which are critical not just to the business, but to patient care.”
At its core, PAM ensures that access to critical systems is controlled, monitored, and aligned with the realities of healthcare environments.
When Security Failures Impact Care
In healthcare, downtime is not just an operational issue. Garrett comments, “When outages happen, businesses lose money. But for healthcare organizations, an outage could result in patients not being able to receive the necessary care they need.”
That is why resiliency must be built into any access strategy. Security controls cannot prevent clinicians and administrators from reaching the systems they rely on.
“Break glass capabilities allow admins and employees to gain access to critical systems even when there is an adverse event occurring like a system outage.”
Securing Access to Sensitive Systems
Healthcare systems hold a vast amount of sensitive data, including PHI, across cloud, on premises, and medical technologies.
“A lot of critical systems in healthcare organizations host a plethora of sensitive data including PHI. And access to that data must be securely configured and properly provisioned through a PAM solution,” says Garrett.
PAM reduces risk by controlling and limiting privileged access.
“By vaulting and rotating privileged credentials healthcare organizations can adhere to least privilege principles and prevent unauthorized access. And just in time access capabilities remove standing privileges to reduce the attack surface and prevent malicious intrusions or data breaches.”
Visibility and Accountability
Controlling access is only part of the equation. Healthcare organizations also need visibility into what happens during privileged sessions.
Garrett comments, “Session recording and continuously monitoring and auditing privileged sessions helps identify activities that could pose risks not just to the business, but to the care of patients.”
This level of oversight is essential in environments where a single action can impact system availability or patient data.
The Reality: Complexity and Culture
Healthcare environments are highly complex, spanning cloud, on premises infrastructure, networks, databases, and medical devices.
“Healthcare organizations must be flexible to provide privileged access to a variety of IT infrastructure including cloud, on premises devices, network devices, databases, even complex medical devices and applications.”
At the same time, PAM is not just a technical challenge.
“PAM is certainly a complex deployment, and it takes a lot of time and effort to strategize how you are going to deploy and implement the tool.”
It also requires a shift in how teams work.
“The utilization of a PAM tool is often a culture change, and it can be difficult to change day to day workflows for the sake of security.”
Making PAM Work in Healthcare
Successful PAM strategies balance security with usability and align across teams.
Garrett explains, “Automated access and provisioning workflows make sure it’s streamlined and secure so you’re not sacrificing efficiency for security. And communication allows key stakeholders from various teams to be heard and have a positive impact on the actual adoption of PAM workflows.”
Strong integrations and flexible deployment models further support scalability and visibility across the environment.
A Foundation for Secure Care
Privileged access sits at the center of healthcare systems. Managing it effectively is not just about reducing cyber risk. It is about ensuring that critical systems remain secure, available, and accessible when patients need them most.
Learn More
To learn more about K logix Cyber Research and the work Garrett and the team are doing across areas like Privileged Access Management and other cybersecurity markets, visit: www.klogixsecurity.com/cyber-research.
