The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released a mitigation guide specifically tailored to the healthcare and public health (HPH) sector.
The new guide outlines defensive mitigation strategies and best practices to counter widespread cyber threats targeting critical healthcare infrastructure.
The document, released Friday, highlights the importance of vulnerability management, which it defines as the continuous identification, assessment and remediation of cyber vulnerabilities in software and systems.
This highlights the need for organizations to regularly perform vulnerability scans, prioritize assets based on their criticality, and leverage threat intelligence to address actively exploited vulnerabilities. The guide also details a step-by-step vulnerability management lifecycle, guiding entities from identification to improvement.
Additionally, the document addresses the importance of configuration and change management (CCM) in tandem with established vulnerability and patch management solutions. HPH entities are encouraged to implement security configuration management to identify and rectify configuration errors in default system settings.
Additionally, in a move toward a more secure future, CISA co-authored and released “Shifting the Balance of Cybersecurity Risk: Principles and Approaches for Secure Software by Design” on April 13. This postrecently updated, advocates for a paradigm shift in technology product development, urging manufacturers to prioritize security in the design and development phase rather than relying on post-fixing. deployment.
Learn more about this strategy: Industry experts urge CISA to update Secure by Design guidelines
The guide concludes with a focus on HPH sector vulnerability remediation guidance, providing tables describing priority vulnerabilities as well as recommendations for remediation and compensatory controls. CISA recommended that HPH entities diligently track and prioritize vulnerabilities based on their internal network architecture and risk posture.
The new guidelines are designed to serve as a vital resource for the HPS sector, providing actionable insights to strengthen cybersecurity defenses against potential threats. For a detailed understanding of priority vulnerabilities and remediation guidance, readers are encouraged to refer directly to published publications. Mitigation Guide.