By Doug Green Nearly 85% of healthcare organizations experience network or security disruptions that can affect patient care and privacy, while two-thirds of healthcare IT teams say they are strained or constantly firefighting, according to new research released by Nile. The findings are part of Nile’s new report, “The State of Networking, Security & AI in Healthcare,” based on responses from more than 300 IT leaders, C-level executives, and network and security practitioners worldwide. In a Technology Reseller News podcast, I spoke with Shashi Kiran, CMO of Nile, about what the findings reveal about healthcare networking and why the problem goes beyond cybersecurity tools to the underlying architecture. Healthcare networks now connect hospitals, outpatient facilities, imaging centers, remote locations and large numbers of medical and IoT devices. Many of those devices cannot simply be patched or equipped with traditional security agents, yet they may operate alongside critical systems such as electronic health records. That complexity has consequences. According to Nile, 38% of healthcare organizations experience network or security disruptions at least weekly. Cybersecurity threats and ransomware ranked as the top network challenge at 27%, ahead of staffing shortages and lack of expertise at 23%. Kiran argues that adding more staff alone will not solve the problem. About 66% of healthcare IT teams described themselves as strained or firefighting, while only 18% said they were comfortably managing network operations. “Most often people think that it’s throw more resources at the problem,” Kiran says. “More often than not, that’s not the case.” Zero Trust and the Containment Gap Only 38% of organizations surveyed report partial or full Zero Trust implementation, while 26% are aware of Zero Trust but have no concrete plans to implement it. The research also found that only 20% of respondents are confident their networks can contain a cyber incident across medical, IoT, clinician and guest devices. Sixty-one percent are not confident or only slightly confident. Kiran says the challenge is creating a consistent security posture across environments that may include conventional IT, operational technology and medical devices managed by different teams. “Zero Trust is not a protocol or a feature,” he says. “It’s really a holistic posture that you need to have on an end-to-end basis.” He also points to the complexity of legacy infrastructure, describing some environments as a “Frankenstein architecture” assembled over time from different systems, vendors and operational processes. That complexity can make troubleshooting more difficult and itself become a security problem. AI and NaaS The report also shows strong interest in new operating models. Sixty-four percent of healthcare organizations surveyed are open to adopting Network-as-a-Service to simplify operations and strengthen security, while 20% of more mature organizations now view AI-driven automation as essential to running their networks. Nile argues that combining Zero Trust, automation and networking into the infrastructure itself can help healthcare IT organizations move from constant firefighting toward more proactive operations. For Kiran, that shift ultimately comes back to healthcare’s core mission. “In healthcare, the network is the lifeblood of patient care — when it falters, both patient care and patient privacy are put at risk,” he said in announcing the research. The takeaway is that networking, security and patient care are increasingly interconnected. As healthcare organizations enter their next infrastructure refresh cycle, Nile believes the opportunity is not simply to replace old equipment, but to rethink an architecture that has become too complex to operate and secure effectively. The full “The State of Networking, Security & AI in Healthcare” report is available from Nile.