Case study

How a Healthcare Organization Replaced Siloed Security Views with Continuous Validation from Picus

Industry: Healthcare
Security Team: Small, focused security engineering team
Products: Security Control Validation (SCV)
Attack Path Validation (APV)
About: A US-based healthcare organization operating thousands of endpoints across a hybrid on-premises and cloud environment. Its small, focused security engineering team runs a continuous validation program aligned to NIST CSF and MITRE ATT&CK.

Challenges & Results

Challenge: Security tools operated in silos with no shared context

Result: One platform showing whether attacks actually get through the stack
Challenge: Critical-rated findings that deployed controls already blocked

Result: Every finding weighed against the controls already in place
Challenge: Red team testing limited to point-in-time snapshots

Result: Scheduled attack path testing that runs as often as the team needs
Challenge: A SIEM correlation gap quietly limiting detection

Result: Root cause surfaced with evidence the team could act on
Challenge: Data exfiltration testing limited to email only

Result: Multi-vector exfiltration simulations across the environment
Challenge: Validation knowledge concentrated in a single operator

Result: Engineers across the team now run their own scoped simulations
Challenge: No structured way to brief leadership on threat readiness

Result: Quarterly emerging-threat briefings built on simulation evidence

Executive Summary

A US-based healthcare organization ran a capable security stack, but every tool worked alone. The vulnerability scanner flagged critical findings without knowing the firewall already blocked them. Detection data lived apart from prevention data. Across thousands of endpoints in a hybrid on-premises and cloud environment, the small security team needed the one answer no single tool could give: whether an attack would actually get through.

The team deployed Picus Security Control Validation (SCV) and added Attack Path Validation (APV), replacing point-in-time red team snapshots with testing that runs on a schedule. Monthly simulations now cover the full stack, engineers drill into specific gaps with scoped runs, and quarterly emerging-threat briefings give leadership evidence instead of assumptions. What began with a single operator has grown into a team-wide practice.

The Challenge: Siloed Tools Could Not Show Real Risk

The team ran a capable stack: EDR on the endpoints, a SIEM collecting logs, a vulnerability scanner rating findings. Each tool answered its own question, and none answered the one that mattered.

Red team testing came as point-in-time engagements that grew stale the day they ended. A correlation gap in the SIEM log pipeline was quietly limiting what detections could fire, and data exfiltration testing was limited to email alone. The picture was fragmented exactly where it needed to be whole.

You have a vulnerability scanner and it says we found a vulnerability we rate critical 10. But what the scanner doesn’t know is that you have a firewall in place that blocks it. Everything is siloed. Your vulnerability data is in one place, your firewall data is in another. They don’t really communicate with each other.

Associate VP, Information Security Operations

The Solution: Testing the Whole Stack Together, Not in Silos

Rather than adding one more siloed tool, the team used Picus to test the stack as a whole. Simulations run real attack techniques across the environment and show what gets blocked, what gets detected, and what slips through, with every result mapped to MITRE ATT&CK.

Security Control Validation runs full-scope simulations on a monthly schedule across the entire threat library. Between runs, engineers launch smaller, scoped simulations to drill into specific gaps, verify logging, and confirm fixes landed. Attack Path Validation replaced point-in-time red team snapshots with attack path testing the team can schedule as often as it wants, prioritizing ransomware and domain compromise scenarios first.

I’ve just been in here for maybe an hour, clicking around and poking at things. I’ll be honest, it seems really intuitive.

Information Security Engineer

From Feature Request to Shipped Capability

Exfiltration testing had been limited to email, a gap the team itself had raised with Picus. When the multi-vector data exfiltration module shipped, it closed that gap directly.

For a lean team, that feedback loop matters: the platform grows in the direction its operators push it.

We had talked about that a while ago, how it was just email and it would be good if it was other stuff. So glad that got added. That’s huge.

Information Security Engineer

The Results: From One Operator to a Team-Wide Practice

Simulations surfaced what the siloed view had hidden, including a correlation gap in the SIEM log pipeline that was quietly limiting detection. Instead of a vague sense that coverage was incomplete, the team had a concrete root cause to work.

Adoption grew with the findings.

Validation results now anchor quarterly emerging-threat briefings to security leadership, a structured reporting cadence that did not exist before.

It used to just be me, basically. But we’ve onboarded other users so they can start testing simulations more scoped, instead of just the ones that run on a monthly basis where we’re testing everything. They can look deeper at the logging, make sure it looks correct, and if there’s anything missed, they can take action.

Information Security Engineer

The Takeaway

Siloed tools each answer a fragment: a score here, an alert there. None of them can say whether an attack would actually get through. Continuous validation connects the fragments. It tests the whole stack against real techniques, weighs every finding against the controls already in place, and turns the results into evidence engineers can act on and leadership can trust. For a lean healthcare security team, that is the difference between a stack of siloed answers and one proven picture of what holds.

What Our Customers Say

It is no different from a Magician. Ever since we took Picus into our inventory, it has helped significantly to increase our maturity level.

IT Security and Risk Management- Energy and Utilities Industry
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Picus completes the task it is required to do perfect as a BAS solution. Threat database is up to date & updated frequently after a new malware or campaign.

IT Security Engineer - Banking
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Using Picus, we can conduct risk analysis about possible attacks for their impact on people, processes and technology layers.

IT Manager - Healthcare and Biotech Industry
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A very successful platform where we can test the accuracy of our security investments and see their scores.

Manager, IT Security and Risk Management - Manufacturing
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Picus is very good attack simulation tool in overall. It shows all security vulnerabilities and guides..

Sr. Information Security & Risk Officer - Banking
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There is a very nice team from which I can get quick support. The application provides us with great convenience and confidence in our work.

Information Security Specialist - Transportation
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We've been using product for seven years. It's very useful and easily integrated with the network environment and security products.

System Engineer - IT Services
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If you have a complex environment and not enough human resource, Picus will help you to prioritize your tasks with its extended detection capabilities.

IT Specialist - Insurance
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We have been using Picus more than 1,5 years, we can truly say this product gives us every aspect of our protection. Its suggestions save our times and show us how we are ready for upcoming threats.

CIO - Banking
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It helped us a lot in detecting faulty configurations and troubleshooting. It also gave us an idea about the investments we are planning to make.

IT Security and Risk Management - Retail
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How a Healthcare Organization Replaced Siloed Security Views with Continuous Validation from Picus

Challenges & Results

Executive Summary

The Challenge: Siloed Tools Could Not Show Real Risk

The Solution: Testing the Whole Stack Together, Not in Silos

From Feature Request to Shipped Capability

The Results: From One Operator to a Team-Wide Practice

The Takeaway

What Our Customers Say

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