Identity at the Heart of Healthcare Security

The healthcare industry remains one of the most targeted sectors for cyberattacks, facing relentless threats that put patient data, operational continuity, and financial stability at risk. As attacks escalate, healthcare organisations must reassess the critical nature of their data and take decisive steps to strengthen their security posture before they become the next cautionary tale.

According to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)’s latest report, healthcare was the top sector to report data breaches in the first half of 2024, accounting for 15% of all notifications with 102 reported breaches.

Now this is not a race any industry wants to win, but it’s a daily reality.

SailPoint’s Healthcare Identity Security whitepaper highlights that a staggering 93% of healthcare organisations have experienced data breaches over the past two years, with average costs exceeding $10 million per breach — the highest of any industry. The root cause? Compromised credentials, excessive access permissions, and a lack of visibility into who has access to what.

Indiscriminating ransomware gangs have shown no mercy in exploiting identity security gaps to gain access to highly sensitive data. The recent ransomware attack on Australian IVF provider Genea, which resulted in highly confidential patient information being posted on the darknet and a shutdown of some critical systems, serves as a sobering reminder of the devastating impact security breaches can have on both healthcare organisations and their patients.

This is an industry that cannot afford interruptions. In recognition, the Australian federal government has made its contribution by awarding a $6.4 million grant to not-for-profit cyber intelligence sharing network CI-ISAC Australia to boost cyber security in the healthcare sector by creating the Health Cyber Sharing Network, which will allow healthcare entities to effectively and securely exchange threat intelligence specific to their industry.

The healthcare industry stands at a critical junction and modern identity security — powered by AI — is its lifeline. It is essential for reducing risk, streamlining operations, enhancing clinician productivity, meeting regulatory requirements, and ultimately improving overall patient care.

AI-Driven Identity Security as the Path Forward

For years, hospitals have relied on network-based security — firewalls, VPNs, and perimeter defences — but in today’s cloud-first, hybrid environments, these approaches are no longer enough. Healthcare organisations must manage a complex identity landscape, where identity is the new gateway to every system, application, and data source.

Non-employee access risks are particularly concerning, with healthcare being the most common victim of third-party breaches in 2022, accounting for 35% of all incidents. Hospitals oversee access for full-time clinical staff, non-employee contracted staff, students, volunteers, as well as third-party vendors, each with unique access needs. Inactive user accounts often remain enabled well past their expiration, creating persistent security gaps. At the same time, hospitals and healthcare systems must balance security with operational efficiency — ensuring clinical staff receive seamless, day-one access to systems, applications, and data without delays that could impact patient care and costs.

To address modern cyber threats while enabling efficiency, healthcare organisations are turning to AI-driven identity security. Advanced identity governance platforms leverage AI and automation to reduce onboarding time from weeks to minutes, ensuring timely access while also detecting and removing excessive permissions to mitigate credential-based attacks. By automating identity processes, IT workload is reduced, allowing teams to focus on strategic initiatives while improving compliance with frameworks like NIST, HIPAA, HITRUST, and GDPR.

Modern identity security requires a unified approach that integrates governance, access management, threat detection and risk management. With SailPoint’s acquisition of Imprivata Enterprise Access Management, healthcare organisations gain seamless, secure access while maintaining compliance. They can provide secure day-one access, automate complex identity lifecycles across all systems, and extend governance controls to non-employee identities such as contractors and affiliate physicians. By streamlining processes and eliminating redundant infrastructure and services, they also reduce operational costs.

AI Agents and Machine Identities: The Next Frontier

Beyond human identities rises a new challenge: the rapid proliferation of machine identities and AI agents. Today’s healthcare organisations are managing a growing population of non-human identities, including service accounts, bots, APIs, and increasingly, agentic AI systems that can autonomously perform tasks, make decisions, and access sensitive systems.

Our research shows that nearly half of all organisations typically have far more machine identities than human ones, often by a factor of 10 or more. These digital entities require the same robust governance as human users, yet 75% lack designated ownership and 72% of identity professionals find them more challenging to manage than human identities.

Now, while AI agents hold immense promise for reducing administrative burden, potentially cutting paperwork by 30% according to recent studies, and have the potential to enhance care coordination and clinical decision-making, these systems also introduce new security considerations as they require access to multiple data sources and systems to function effectively.

Forward-thinking healthcare organisations are already addressing this challenge by extending their identity security strategies to encompass all entities accessing their systems — human and machine alike.

Future-Proofing Healthcare Organisations

The journey toward digital transformation in healthcare continues to accelerate, and with it, the critical role of identity security. Imagine a future where clinicians move seamlessly between departments and facilities while their access permissions automatically adjust in real time. Where AI systems quietly work in the background, learning patterns and preventing potential breaches before they occur, all without disrupting the vital work of patient care.

Across Australia, healthcare security is evolving. The days of working in isolation are giving way to collaborative communities where insights are shared, and collective defence becomes possible.

Australian healthcare organisations are uniquely positioned to lead in identity security. The sector has always understood that patient care requires both accessibility and protection. We’re now seeing this same philosophy applied to digital identities and ensuring the right people have seamless access to critical systems while maintaining the highest standards of security and compliance.

Ready to Transform Your Healthcare Identity Security?

SailPoint helps healthcare organisations of all sizes modernise their identity security strategies.

Learn more about how AI-driven identity security can transform your healthcare organisation by visiting SailPoint's healthcare resource centre, joining one of their upcoming healthcare-focused webinars or heading to this year’s Digital Health Festival to hear from Nam Lam himself.

Top image credit: iStock.com/sturti