Strengthening Cyber Resilience through Phishing Email Investigation and Response in Healthcare Organizations
Start project- Healthcare
- 2 weeks duration
- Victoria Simoncontributor
Skills to be developed
- Header parsing and Received-chain forensics
- SPF, DKIM, and DMARC interpretation
- URL defanging and reputation lookups
- Risk-based prioritization under queue pressure
- Escalation judgment against defined criteria, including national CSOC thresholds
- Clear, defensible incident writing
- Stakeholder and handover communication
- Social-engineering pattern recognition
Project summary
This case study simulates a phishing incident targeting MediSure Health Network, a healthcare provider that relies heavily on electronic health records (EHRs), patient portals, and digital communications. Students and interns will assume the role of SOC analysts investigating the phishing attempt, validating its authenticity, tracing impact through Splunk logs, and producing actionable reports and awareness content.
Business context
MediSure Health Network is a leading healthcare provider known for its strong use of digital technology. This strength also makes it a prime target for cyber threats. One morning, staff received an email that looked like a vendor invoice. It seemed normal but was actually a phishing attempt designed to steal sensitive data such as patient information and financial records. The incident revealed a deeper issue: while the systems were secure, employees remained vulnerable to deception. The organization faced both immediate risk and the need for stronger long-term protection against phishing and business email compromise attacks. Read more >>>