Challenge
A regional hospital network operating 12 facilities needed to improve their cybersecurity posture without disrupting critical medical systems. Previous security assessments were limited to vulnerability scanning, and the organization had no visibility into advanced attack techniques targeting healthcare environments.
Approach
Crimson7 implemented a phased purple team program designed around healthcare-specific constraints:
- Phase 1: Threat modeling based on healthcare sector threat intelligence
- Phase 2: Controlled attack simulations during maintenance windows
- Phase 3: Collaborative detection rule development with the IT security team
- Phase 4: Validation and coverage measurement against MITRE ATT&CK
Special protocols ensured medical devices and patient-facing systems were never at risk during testing.
Results
Over 8 weeks, the purple team program increased MITRE ATT&CK detection coverage from 34% to 78%. The joint team developed 45 custom detection rules specifically targeting medical device attack patterns and healthcare-specific lateral movement techniques.