For years, the healthcare industry has been locked in a reactive cycle. As digital transformation spread throughout healthcare facilities to usher in a more efficient, innovative patient experience, it also brought a wave of unprecedented risk. From ransomware that brings critical procedures to a standstill to the layers of new and old technology in use at the same time, the modern healthcare attack surface has become a primary target for cyberwarfare.
Healthcare organizations have been fighting fires, reacting to the hundreds of breaches reported every year, and overwhelmed by the tens of thousands of alerts that can exist within a single hospital. But a shift is happening. Healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) are moving past the “what do I have?” phase of simple asset visibility and are instead framing their security and innovation strategies around the more important question: “How do I keep my patients safe?”
We’ve observed that Armis healthcare customers are focusing on five key areas to reduce their exposure and get ahead of cyberattacks before they happen:
- Deep Clinical Context Over Generic Data
- Prioritizing Patient-Centric Risk Assessment
- Bridging the Gap Between IT and Clinical Engineering
- Faster, Actionable Remediation
- Continuous Awareness, Proactive Protection
Key Findings
- Healthcare delivery organizations need specialized data and context to effectively manage risks.
- Fixing everything is impossible. Fixing the important things will keep patients protected and operations running.
- Alignment between clinical engineering and IT security is essential for a united front in securing technology.
- Armis users see a 90% improvement in Mean Time to Remediation (MTTR), by adopting context-driven prioritization and automated remediation playbooks.
1. Deep Clinical Context Over Generic Data
Traditional security tools often treat a life-saving infusion pump the same way they treat a lobby printer. Risk assessment, prevention, and mitigation in healthcare have to go beyond the IP address. The clinical context of every technology touchpoint of the patient experience is the key piece of the puzzle. True risk reduction requires a specialized lens that understands the unique requirements, context, and utilization of everything within the clinical environment.
By integrating clinical context, security teams can stop chasing low-level vulnerabilities and focus on the risks that actually threaten patient care.
“Armis is an integral part of Main Line Health’s cybersecurity program, providing unparalleled visibility into every asset and device within our environment. As a hospital system dedicated to delivering safe, high-quality, equitable, and affordable care to treat and cure disease, Armis allows us to focus on what truly matters.”
– Aaron Weismann, Chief Information Security Officer, Main Line Health
2. Prioritizing Patient-Centric Risk Assessment
With tens of thousands of vulnerabilities existing across a single hospital, “fixing everything” is impossible. Organizations are looking for ways to filter the noise and identify the “critical few” threats that have clear attack pathways to essential technology. A “patient-centric” approach assesses risk by the potential clinical impact of failure or the significance of a particular asset within a clinical setting. This means that instead of chasing, your security and IT teams can focus on the one unpatched vulnerability that might actually threaten a procedure.
“Armis Centrix™ for Medical Device Security is hands down the best tool we have bought for asset management and vulnerability detection.”
-Analyst/Coordinator, KLAS review
3. Bridging the Gap Between IT and Clinical Engineering
Cyber resilience must be viewed in the context of patient safety to move beyond the boardroom and truly change the operational approach to security. Leading organizations are breaking down silos between security teams and healthcare technology management or clinical engineering teams in order to more effectively manage cybersecurity throughout a device’s lifecycle, from initial purchase evaluation to decommissioning. This unified approach ensures that cybersecurity is embedded into the fabric of care delivery rather than treated as an afterthought, and ensures that every stakeholder has the right information at the right time to maintain operations and continue to reinforce cyber resilience.
Our healthcare customers are experts in their own right, focused on care excellence from every angle. Main Line Health, winner of the 2024 CSO Award for Cybersecurity Excellence, is a prime example that a unified approach to healthcare and cybersecurity works. By breaking down the silos between IT security and Clinical Engineering, these organizations are no longer just reacting to alerts. They are moving further down the maturity journey to proactively protecting and managing the entire device lifecycle
“Cybersecurity is constantly changing, and it’s a priority to understand where the gaps are. We are well aware that medical records are some of the most sought-after assets by hackers, and it’s important for us to consider those risks every time we take on a new technology.”
– Jeffrey Wood, Deputy Director of ICT, Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust
4. Faster, Actionable Remediation
Finding a risk is only half the battle. Fixing it before it’s exploited is what really reduces exposure. Healthcare organizations are now prioritizing automated workflows and ownership assignment to close security gaps faster. Data from Omdia* validates this shift, showing that Armis users see a 90% improvement in Mean Time to Remediation (MTTR), by adopting context-driven prioritization and automated remediation playbooks.
“Armis provides us with real-time visibility and control over our assets, allowing us to proactively manage security risks and improve our operational efficiency.”
– CISO, Medical Device Company
Case Study: Armis is More than a Security Tool for Sint-Trudo Ziekenhuis Hospital
5. Continuous Awareness, Proactive Protection
In a 24/7 clinical environment, any disruption can create massive challenges with clinical workflows and the ability to provide uninterrupted clinical care. Healthcare organizations are working tirelessly to combat threats of cyberattacks while still trying to turn the ship and reframe their security strategy from reactive to proactive. Effective solutions must provide continuous awareness of every asset and risk within a healthcare facility to monitor for the most minute behavioral changes that can be an early signal of a potential disruption. By adopting a real-time and early alerting view of the entire technology ecosystem, organizations can detect emerging risks early and block incoming attacks before they reach the bedside. This is a fundamental change in strategic approach that will allow healthcare organizations to put an end to firefighting and instead ensure their facilities are continuously protected.
In 2025, Frost & Sullivan recognized Armis as a Leader in the Frost Radar Infrastructure Cybersecurity in North America and Company of the Year for Global Healthcare Cybersecurity. Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Research Analyst, Iqra Azam, highlighted in the Company of the Year report that Armis “boosts clients’ confidence in new technologies by addressing their most critical pain points through a single platform with unmatched capabilities.
“By combining foresight with innovation, Armis Centrix™ empowers organizations with the ideal solutions to defend against more sophisticated and frequent cyberattacks, see the entire attack surface, and manage the risk reduction process.”
– Iqra Azam, Best Practices Research Analyst, Frost & Sullivan
Case Study: Armis Secures Hospital Undergoing Digital Transformation
The Future of Healthcare Cybersecurity: Rewriting the Headlines
The journey to cybersecurity maturity has been long and littered with challenges like limited budgets and aging legacy hardware. But by adopting a proactive, patient-centric model, we can advance healthcare into a new, secure era. We have to continue the pursuit of different headlines, not of devastating breaches and patient impact, but of prevented attacks, uninterrupted procedures, and an environment where innovation is safely supported by the technology that drives it.
Armis has a continuous focus on healthcare cybersecurity and partners with leading healthcare organizations to drive maturity and cyber resilience in the industry. The shared goal for this industry has to be keeping healthcare delivery and patient experiences protected from external threats or technology risks. Clinical care teams extend from primary care providers to the health and safety of the very technology that keeps the facility operating securely.
The industry is finally shifting “left of boom” and focusing on getting ahead of attacks before they ever reach the bedside. By remaining focused on the patient journey and embedding cybersecurity into the fabric of healthcare organizations, we are protecting the very foundation of care delivery.
*The modeled outcomes reflect the expected benefits observed across interviewed customers, combined with Omdia’s experience validating asset protection and exposure management platforms. The ROI, cost savings, and operational improvements were calculated using standard financial modeling techniques to estimate avoided costs, productivity gains, and risk reduction attributable to the deployment of Armis Centrix™. Actual results will vary based on organizational size, maturity, architecture, and use cases. The Omdia study represents a modeled scenario based on a composite organization and should be viewed as directional rather than prescriptive.
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