Tackling the growing cyber threat to Australian healthcare providers

The healthcare sector worldwide is under growing pressure from cyber attackers. In its Annual Cyber Threat Report 2024-2025, the Australian Signals Directorate noted that the number of ransomware incidents involving the healthcare sector had doubled compared to 2023-2024, and that malicious actors were successful in 95% of all incidents responded to by the organisation last year, compared to an all-sector average of 52%. 

As the ASD noted, disruptions to healthcare networks can endanger patient safety, making the sector fertile ground for extortion attempts by cybercriminals. Healthcare data is also available on dark web forums, enabling activities such as fraud and identity theft.

For healthcare executives, the challenge is no longer simply the prevention of cyber incidents. It is ensuring clinical continuity, protecting patient safety and maintaining trust, while managing increasingly complex environments that include legacy systems, connected medical devices and converging IT and OT networks.

Reducing cybersecurity risk with Orro

Australian technology services provider Orro supports healthcare organisations in reducing cyber risk through solutions designed to securely connect, protect and maintain clinical operations. These solutions address operational technology (OT) such as the building management systems used to run lifts, air conditioning and other critical hospital infrastructure, as well as IT assets and the integrations between IT and OT.

Orro provides a Clinical Security Network Operations Centre platform that extends protection across complex healthcare environments. Adaptable to the varying organisational maturity levels, the platform can be aligned to support compliance requirements and risk management strategies, extending beyond individual hospitals to cover IT and OT across broader healthcare ecosystems. 

A comprehensive security solution for a large hospital group

Orro’s solutions are helping healthcare organisations strengthen their security posture. One large private hospital group achieved a full understanding of its digital environment through identification and cataloguing of all IT and OT devices, alongside immediate visibility of device risks and operational threats.

This enabled the organisation to undertake virtual patching to mitigate vulnerabilities associated with medical devices and the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), while maintaining uninterrupted clinical operations.

The group also implemented a holistic security framework aligned to regulatory and industry standards, ensuring continuous compliance as requirements evolve. Always-on monitoring and advanced analytics allowed for proactive risk management and accelerated, targeted responses to incidents, reducing operational disruption and reinforcing clinical confidence in critical systems. 

A wide range of use cases

Use cases for Orro’s solutions include clinical device discovery and asset management; real-time clinical asset monitoring; clinical Secure Network Operations Centre capability; incident response integration; and continuous maturity improvement of clinical security operations.

These capabilities are delivered through the integration of leading technologies across clinical and operational environments. For example, Orro leverages Medigate’s deep packet inspection (DPI) technology to provide detailed visibility of connected medical and IoMT devices, while the Claroty xDome platform enables discovery, classification and risk identification across cyber-physical systems. 

Within the clinical Secure Network Operations Centre environment, Fortinet technologies support secure policy enforcement and contextual protection of OT assets, while analytics platforms such as Splunk enable enhanced detection, correlation and response across healthcare IT and OT ecosystems.  

Together, these integrated platforms deliver a unified approach to visibility, protection and response, strengthening resilience across clinical environments. 

A maturity blueprint that drives incremental security improvements

Orro has also developed a clinical security maturity blueprint to support healthcare organisations in strengthening their cybersecurity posture over time. Outlined through its Secure Network Operations Centre integration approach, the model addresses six pillars: people, process, technology, tools, data and security.

Through this framework, healthcare organisations can adopt modular, scalable solutions aligned to their current maturity level, supporting progressive improvement as clinical environments, threat landscapes and regulatory requirements evolve. 

“Healthcare cybersecurity is no longer a technical issue alone – it is a clinical and operational imperative,” said Orro CTO, Stuart Long. “Our role is to help healthcare leaders create environments where digital systems support care, rather than place it at risk, enabling confidence in patient safety, service continuity and resilience.”