Healthcare Cybersecurity → CTEM for Healthcare
Your Security Team Can't Test What They Can't See
Annual penetration tests check what you know about. Continuous Threat Exposure Management finds what you don't—before attackers do.
Why Annual Pen Tests Don't Cut It Anymore
You schedule a penetration test in March. The testers spend two weeks probing your environment, then deliver a 50-page report with critical findings. Your team spends April through June patching the issues.
By July, you've deployed new telehealth software. In August, your EHR vendor pushes an update. September brings three new IoMT devices onto the network. By October, your security posture looks nothing like it did in March—but you won't test again until next year.
Meanwhile, attackers are constantly scanning for new entry points. They don't wait for your annual test cycle.
Healthcare breaches take an average of 279 days to identify and contain. That's 9 months of exposure you can't afford.
What Changes Between Annual Tests
- New software deployments
- Cloud configuration changes
- Medical device additions
- Vendor access updates
- Patching windows missed
- Staff turnover affecting credentials
- Zero-day vulnerabilities discovered
The Numbers Behind Healthcare's Security Gap
What Continuous Threat Exposure Management Actually Does
CTEM isn't "more frequent penetration testing." It's a continuous five-stage program that runs year-round, identifying and validating exposures as your environment changes.
Scoping
Define what matters: patient data repositories, connected medical devices, clinical systems, and the infrastructure that supports care delivery. This isn't a one-time exercise—scope evolves as your hospital adds new systems.
Discovery
Continuously map your attack surface across on-premises systems, cloud services, SaaS applications, and third-party integrations. Find shadow IT, forgotten test environments, and orphaned credentials.
Prioritization
Rank exposures by exploitability, access to PHI, and impact on patient care. Not every finding deserves the same urgency. A vulnerability in an isolated lab system isn't the same as one in your EHR.
Validation
Simulate real-world attacks to confirm which vulnerabilities actually lead to data access or operational disruption. Eliminate false positives that waste your team's time.
Mobilization
Feed validated, prioritized findings to your remediation teams with clear business context. Track progress. Measure risk reduction over time. Report to leadership and insurers with real data.
Then the cycle repeats immediately. Your environment changes. Threats evolve. CTEM keeps pace.
Annual Testing vs. Continuous Testing
❌ Annual Pen Test Approach
- Two-week engagement once a year
- Limited scope—can't test everything
- Point-in-time snapshot
- Report sits in a folder for 11 months
- Findings lack business priority
- No visibility into new exposures
- Compliance checkbox, not risk management
✓ CTEM Approach
- Continuous monitoring 365 days
- Full environment coverage
- Real-time threat detection
- Always-current risk dashboard
- Attack-path-based prioritization
- Catches changes as they happen
- Measurable risk reduction over time
According to Gartner, organizations integrating penetration testing into a CTEM program are 35% less likely to face disruptive cyber breaches.
Why Most CTEM Platforms Fall Short in Healthcare
Many CTEM solutions are just dashboards aggregating vulnerability scanner outputs. They'll tell you what's broken, but not how attackers would actually exploit it—or how to fix it in a hospital that can't take critical systems offline.
Incenter pushes the boundary of what CTEM can be: combining multiple assessment tools, validating exposures with real attack simulations, and backing it all with human experts who understand healthcare constraints.
How Incenter Goes Beyond Traditional CTEM
Multiple Assessment Tools, One View
Instead of relying on a single scanning engine, Incenter integrates:
- Network vulnerability assessments
- Web application testing
- Cloud security posture management
- Medical device (IoMT) discovery and analysis
- Attack path simulation
- Configuration audits
The result: You're not flying blind with a single tool's perspective. You get comprehensive coverage across your entire attack surface.
Human Experts Where Automation Fails
Automated tools can't:
- Understand that your radiology PACS can't be patched during business hours
- Distinguish between a critical EHR exposure and a low-risk lab system
- Explain to your CISO why this specific finding matters more than the other 200
- Help you negotiate exceptions with compliance auditors
Incenter's security experts do. They've worked in healthcare. They understand clinical workflows, regulatory pressures, and operational constraints.
Incenter combines multiple assessment methodologies with human expertise
What This Means for Your Hospital
❌ Typical CTEM Platform
- Vulnerability scan aggregation
- Prioritization based on CVSS scores alone
- Generic remediation advice
- No context about healthcare operations
- You're left to interpret findings yourself
- False positives waste your team's time
✓ Incenter Approach
- Multi-tool validation of exposures
- Attack path analysis showing real exploit chains
- Healthcare-specific remediation guidance
- Experts who understand clinical constraints
- Validated findings with business context
- Direct support when you need it
The difference: You can test your hospital better and more effectively, because you're not just collecting data—you're acting on intelligence validated by experts who understand healthcare.
How CTEM Supports HIPAA Compliance and Insurer Requirements
HIPAA Security Rule Alignment
- §164.308(a)(1)(ii)(A) – Risk Analysis: Ongoing identification of threats to ePHI
- §164.308(a)(1)(ii)(B) – Risk Management: Implementing security measures to reduce risks
- §164.308(a)(8) – Evaluation: Periodic technical and non-technical testing
CTEM provides audit-ready documentation that insurers want to see:
- Proof of ongoing security testing beyond annual audits
- Documented remediation progress with measurable metrics
- Attack path analysis for critical systems
- Board-level reporting showing risk trends
Cyber insurance underwriters ask harder questions every year. Continuous monitoring strengthens your case for better rates—or even maintaining coverage.
What CTEM Finds in Real Healthcare Environments
Here's what continuous testing revealed in hospitals that point-in-time assessments missed:
Legacy System Exposure
Windows Server 2012 R2 running lab system interfaces. Not internet-facing, so it wasn't in scope for the annual pen test. CTEM mapped lateral movement paths from a compromised physician workstation to these unpatched systems with direct access to patient lab results.
Cloud Misconfiguration
S3 bucket hosting patient portal data set to public read access after a developer made an emergency fix at 2 AM. The change happened five months after the annual test. CTEM flagged it within two hours.
IoMT Vulnerability
Infusion pumps with hardcoded admin credentials, no network segmentation, and firmware three versions behind. Annual testing focused on IT infrastructure. CTEM simulated an attack path from a compromised pump to the EHR.
CTEM maps attack paths across your entire environment—not just individual vulnerabilities
What CTEM Costs vs. What Breaches Cost
CTEM is insurance against incidents that can cost millions:
Avoided Breach Costs
Average healthcare breach: $10.22 million. That includes notification, credit monitoring, legal fees, regulatory fines, and forensics—not counting reputation damage and patient churn.
One prevented breach pays for CTEM for years.
Reduced Downtime
389 U.S. healthcare institutions experienced ransomware shutdowns in 2024. The cost of rerouting ambulances, canceling surgeries, and operating on paper can exceed the ransom itself.
CTEM identifies exposures before attackers can weaponize them.
Lower Insurance Premiums
Demonstrating continuous monitoring and measurable risk reduction helps secure better cyber insurance rates—or maintain coverage at all in a hardening market.
Staff Efficiency Gains
Security teams waste time chasing false positives. CTEM's validation and prioritization let your staff focus on threats that matter.
Stop triaging 500-item vulnerability scans. Address validated attack paths instead.
Related Healthcare Security Topics
Penetration Testing for Healthcare
HIPAA-aligned security assessments that identify vulnerabilities in EHRs, medical devices, and hospital networks—without disrupting patient care.
Ransomware in Hospitals
Learn how ransomware attacks unfold in healthcare settings, real breach costs, and proven strategies to reduce your hospital's ransomware risk.
HIPAA Cybersecurity & Data Security
Understand HIPAA Security Rule requirements, technical safeguards, and how to build a compliance program that protects patient data and avoids costly violations.
Medical Device Cybersecurity & FDA Compliance
Navigate FDA premarket and postmarket cybersecurity requirements for medical devices, including vulnerability assessments and SBOM requirements.
See What Your Annual Test Isn't Finding
Incenter combines multiple assessment tools with human security experts who understand healthcare. Not just vulnerability scans—validated attack paths with actionable remediation guidance.
You don't need to replace your annual pen test. You need continuous testing that finds what automated tools miss—backed by experts who know you can't patch your PACS during business hours.
30-minute session: See how our multi-tool approach and security experts work together to test your hospital better and more effectively