Zero Trust in Healthcare 

Managing an organisation’s security becomes more challenging as its digital footprint expands. This problem is compounded by the fact that: 

• Workloads are moving from on-premise to cloud services 

• The number and diversity of devices expands 

• Health professionals working from different locations. 

Health organisations are grappling with how to manage security effectively (using resilient infrastructures) while also ensuring healthcare professionals can perform their clinical and non-clinical functions. Of particular focus is how to prevent cyber incidents impacting patient safety, patient and staff privacy, and more importantly, the ability to delivery health services.  

Zero trust recognises that many of our engineering approaches to security have not scaled well to the types of complex and interconnected systems we use today, particularly in healthcare. It acknowledges a more holistic approach to cyber security protection, where the use of comprehensive security architecture is essential. Contemporary research by Flinders University seeks to address this problem by creating a translational framework for healthcare organisations to better understand and implement a zero-trust cyber security approach to protect their systems, data, and ultimately patient safety. As cyber security threats grow, this project will inform changes in the security posture of healthcare organisations