Sutter Health’s Continuous Security Validation With Picus

The Challenge

Before adopting Picus, Sutter Health relied heavily on manual testing and validation processes. The red team often spent days or even weeks running simulations, while Detection Engineering had to wait for results before tuning alerts. Although the process was functional, it was slow, resource-intensive, and created operational bottlenecks. Given Sutter Health’s large, highly distributed network, extensive partner ecosystem, and broad attack surface, cybersecurity is an enterprise-level priority that requires both technological rigor and measurable assurance.

The lack of real-time visibility into control effectiveness made it difficult to determine whether security controls were performing as intended. This limited visibility also hindered the organization’s ability to prioritize vulnerabilities, focus remediation efforts, and clearly demonstrate continuous improvement to leadership. As a result, manual validation efforts slowed detection and response, reduced insight into security posture, and contributed to siloed operations. At the same time, an evolving threat landscape and increasing compliance demands further amplified the need for more efficient, scalable, and measurable security validation capabilities.

The Solution

To address these challenges, Sutter Health adopted Picus Security Control Validation (SCV) to automate security testing and improve collaboration across its cybersecurity functions. Automated, real-world attack simulations replaced manual testing, reducing validation cycles from weeks to under an hour. By integrating live threat intelligence feeds directly into Picus, the team was able to design simulations that closely mirrored active adversary behavior, enabling more accurate and timely assessments of control effectiveness.

Picus provided real-time visibility into which security controls were working, which were failing, and why, allowing teams to focus first on the highest-impact gaps. Actionable, data-driven results enabled faster prioritization and remediation, while integrations with Sutter Health’s SIEM, EDR, and web application monitoring solutions eliminated redundant testing and reduced the need for manual coordination and re-testing. This automation freed up security teams to collaborate more effectively and update detection rules almost immediately. Continuous simulations, supported by up-to-date threat intelligence, strengthened Sutter Health’s proactive defense posture, supported HIPAA reporting requirements, and delivered executive-ready, quantifiable metrics that could be shared in monthly operations reviews and leadership briefings.

The Outcome

As a result of implementing Picus, Sutter Health achieved significant improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of its security validation program. Validation cycles were reduced from weeks to under an hour, enabling near real-time insight into which security controls were working, which were failing, and why. This increased visibility strengthened collaboration between the red team and Detection Engineering, allowing issues to be identified and resolved more quickly. Faster remediation, combined with clear, data-driven reporting, made it easier to communicate security posture and progress to executive leadership. Additionally, continuous, automated simulations supported ongoing HIPAA compliance efforts, helping Sutter Health maintain a strong and measurable cybersecurity posture in an evolving threat landscape.