In fact, even “normal” clients should be able to properly function without the ability to talk to each other directly. Legacy systems that are old, out-of-date, and difficult to maintain are a huge obstacle to innovation. This method prevents suspect clients from connecting to the network, but this method can also be taken to the next logical step. Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from Healthcare Tech Outlook, I agree We use cookies on this website to enhance your user experience. For example, biomed devices do not need to talk to each other. Legacy systems complicate digital transformation efforts but replacing them isn’t always a choice. Naturally, this scenario can be expanded from just protecting the organization from legacy systems and used to create a very strong security foundation for a whole organization. The medical industry in particular is saddled with the requirement to retain systems and applications that cannot be easily upgraded or replaced. The question then becomes what can be done to secure an environment that has to support legacy systems? No matter what the client chooses, the role of a systems integrator is to complete the job to the highest standard using the tools available to us. Easy segmentation use cases include printers that only need to talk to a few print servers, voice systems that only communicate with a specific set of servers, and biomed devices that only communicate with a limited set of systems. Network access control tools perform this action to great effect, and most network access control systems implementations work based upon a “comply to connect” methodology. Limit the Ability of Something, or Someone, from Moving around Inside your Network. Fortunately, with a little effort they can be folded into a more modern digital architecture Strategies for Dealing with Legacy Systems. 0%. Bonus: Watch a Datamation video interview about the report with Strativa President, Frank Scavo. Naturally, this scenario can be expanded from just protecting the organization from legacy systems and used to create a very strong security foundation for a whole organization. Access control lists at the switch level is an easy way to prevent this cross talk within segments. Is something or someone crawling around your network and systems? Download the full report, free: IT Strategies for Legacy Systems: Avoiding Technical Bankruptcy. It was imperative for us to work around the issue. The client can then be analyzed, cleaned, and information gleaned to remediate any malware activities. Ability to Take Automated and Immediate Action. The control system in a factory is what a motor is to a car, and when something is amiss, the systems integrator will analyse, design, fit and test, to make sure the system is better than ever and raring to go. Every job is different and usually comes with its own unique challenges that determine whether an upgrade is even possible. Organizations just cannot afford to replace medical devices and expensive software solutions every four years to keep up with changes in technology. The most effective visibility toolset would be one that captures all packets traversing your network. Are files being accessed in new and unusual ways? Four Strategies for Dealing with Legacy Systems (1/5) Posted on: 03-9-2012 This is segment 1 of 5 from Eric Evans’ presentation on Four strategies for dealing with legacy systems. Poor understanding of the system by users and IT alike. When any of those behaviors goes rogue, you need to know and have the ability to act immediately. Once all this information is collected you have full visibility into everything happening in your environment. What are users doing? The control system in a factory is what a motor is to a car, and when something is amiss, the systems integrator will analyse, design, fit and test, to make sure the system is better than ever and raring to go. The interesting thing about this job was that in the process, a kiln was automatically fed broken glass every five hours to keep it alive and to keep the production line moving. Even if there is a fix, the patch is typically greatly delayed (we saw this with Windows XP and WannaCry) because it is much more difficult for developers to create a legacy fix – and far lower on the priority list. If an organization ignores the need to update the system for too long, it can lead to what we refer to as “technical bankruptcy.”. What are applications doing? If you have drawn down the number of legacy systems, then those use cases should be relatively simple. It is well known in the industry that technology professionals prefer to keep the fact under wraps that legacy systems will always be around. "The information that medical systems are now gathering and maintaining is much more valuable than any credit card information". For instance, if a client is infected by malware and begins the process of encrypting files, the visibility toolset will show this action immediately. The fact of the matter is that there will always be a need to support legacy systems and applications within an environment. Most organizations already segment a guest network, so creating a segment specifically for legacy systems and limiting what and who they can talk to will greatly contain the threat they pose to the organization. The visibility tool is then used to trigger an event on the network access control tool to isolate the offending client and quarantine it on a special segment of the network. With the proper analytics, every session, user action, and application action can be tracked and inspected. Here Nick Boughton, sales manager at Boulting Technology, discusses best practice for obsolescence management from a systems integrator point of view. The correct answer for whether upgrading is better than like-for-like replacing really varies from job to job and in most cases the two solutions need to be used in parallel. If only it was that easy. You have Javascript disabled, this website works best when. But the 13% of organizations that have not upgraded their systems in the five-to-nine-year time frame are in the danger zone: Technical debt is building, and if the organization does not undertake a major upgrade, it risks falling into technical bankruptcy. Sean Updegrove, CTO, Keck Medicine of USCThere will Always be Legacy Systems that Need to be Secured. The third piece of this puzzle is being able to force systems into zones designed specifically for them. If we return to the car metaphor, we had to remove the old engine and replace it with a new one, but keep the wheels turning at all times. Define a series of use cases of groups of clients, not necessarily client types. Developing an IT strategy for some organizations can be difficult because of the presence of a legacy system. The more planning, surveying, risk analysis done by a company, the easier it is to cope with a problem when it inevitably occurs. Legacy system atrophy as shadow IT emerges. Certain vulnerabilities may not be as easy to fix due to the large, inflexible nature of older systems. More info. Legacy systems that are old, out-of-date, and difficult to maintain are a huge obstacle to innovation. We achieved this by implementing the new control system in phases and ensuring that a motor was running the conveyor at all times. With the correct implementation strategies, legacy systems can be properly isolated on your network to limit the overall cross section of risk present. If the conveyor feeding glass into the kiln stopped and the oven cooled, the kiln would no longer be in a working condition. For example, Boulting Technology was recently called out to a factory manufacturing glass bottles to update the control system for its production process. Certain sectors have long had to carefully manage obsolescence due to their delicate nature. In this case a complete upgrade was not plausible due to the nature of continuous production, which just goes to show that sometimes the choice is taken out of the hands of the client altogether. Do not make it so complicated that the addition of new applications and systems now takes a lot of integration time. Most importantly, we conclude with recommendations on how to avoid technical bankruptcy and, for organizations that have reached this stage, strategies for getting out and staying out of technical bankruptcy going forward. What are typical signs that a legacy system has reached the stage of technical bankruptcy? On the flip side of the coin, not everyone has the choice of relying on spares. Upgrading every time a more efficient system is identified would mean bankruptcy, based on the innovations in automation at the moment, whereas solely relying on legacy systems risks large failures and prolonged periods of downtime. Downtime is the dreaded risk when companies decide either to upgrade or make do and source spares. Moderate the urge to create too many segments on your network, and maintain a balance between security and the extra added operational overhead. For a start, not everyone has the luxury of being able to afford a complete upgrade. Posted on June 16, 2017 June 17, 2017. Even if there is a fix, the patch is typically greatly delayed (we saw this with Windows XP and WannaCry) because it is much more difficult for developers to create a legacy fix – and far lower on the priority list. For example, pharmaceuticals manufacturing is well known for being heavily regulated and so sourcing spare parts instead of committing to a systems upgrade generally means saving time, money and a whole lot of paperwork. It seems like we just dealt with Windows XP going end of support–Windows 7 and Server 2008 are right around the corner for their end of extended support date. We continue by quantifying the scope of the problem specifically for ERP systems, using our research on the typical age, frequency of upgrades, and extent of modification of these systems. Prevent cross talk between systems within a security segment. With the standardization of use cases, the firewall rule sets can be kept clean and simple. Use of firewalls to create and manage segmentation gives you the ability to centrally manage firewalls which will keep your overhead down. These are likely to already be in technical bankruptcy. Although we don’t like to talk about it in the open, we have to acknowledge even the most diligent lifecycle management practice will not be able to keep all systems up to date all the time. Legacy systems by their nature struggle with this because of their age. Direct involvement of IT personnel in business processes. Advanced analytics now bring the ability to model user, application, and systems behaviors. With this method, the network access control tool queries the client when it first connects to the network. The debate between upgrade versus repair is by no means a new one, but it has become prevalent as most industries look to squeeze margins. Segmentation can be created a variety of ways but the key here is not to get too complex. In recent years, it has become popular to describe organizations with an out-of-date legacy system as being in “technical debt.” We would take this a step further. ACLs can be difficult to manage in an enterprise, however, with properly defined use cases, and a limited number of them, ACLs can be templated and standardized. However, if you would like to share the information in this article, you may use the link below: apac.healthcaretechoutlook.com/cxoinsights/security-and-dealing-with-legacy-systems-nid-427.html, Nick van Terheyden, Chief Medical Information Officer, Nuance communications, Michael Hunt, CMIO, St. Vincent's Health Services, Rhonda Collins, VP, Chief Nursing Officer, Vocera Communications, Pracha Eamranond, Senior VP, Medical Affairs and Population, Adam Stern, President & CEO, Infinitely Virtual, Sean Updegrove, CTO, Keck Medicine of USC.