Detection asks whether something looks wrong. Allowlisting asks a shorter question: was this approved. On a machine that opens patient records, the shorter question is usually the better one, because it has an answer before anything has run.
Practices run a small, knowable set of software. A practice management system, an imaging viewer, a clearinghouse client, a browser, an office suite, a handful of utilities. That is a list somebody can write down. Once it is written down, everything outside it can be refused without a debate, and the ransomware payload delivered in an attachment simply never executes.
The catch is that a badly run allowlist is worse than none, because staff learn to work around it and eventually somebody is given permanent administrator rights to make the problem stop. So the line begins with a learning period against your real estate, and the approval queue is worked by our engineers rather than dropped on whoever answers the phone at your front desk.
Clinical software updates whenever it feels like it and rarely warns a soul. ThreatLocker follows those releases, so an ordinary patch does not shut a hygienist out of the imaging viewer at nine on a Monday, and where something genuinely new shows up the request arrives with us instead of stalling.
Elevation is handled the same way. A member of staff who needs to run something once asks for it, our bench reviews the request, and the decision is recorded. Nobody ends up holding standing administrator rights because it was the fastest way to get through a Tuesday.
The figure below comes straight out of billing. Add it here and it waits on the keyring while you read the rest.
A deadbolt does not negotiate with whatever is on the other side of the door. Allowlisting behaves the same way. Software your practice actually uses runs, and everything else is refused before it gets a chance to argue its case.
| Cut for | Endpoints where the software list ought to be fixed, known and small |
|---|---|
| Turns on | ThreatLocker |
| Held in | Policy and approval history in the ThreatLocker tenant raised for you |
| Rekeyed | Approvals worked continuously; the ruleset reviewed as your software changes |
| Master level | Fortify 24x7 holds elevation requests and escalation |
Refusing everything unapproved is a powerful control of a very particular shape. Below is the edge of its reach.
Heads up: card statements show FORTIFY 24X7 - Health Lock Solutions is a Fortify 24x7 brand, and your subscription is billed by Fortify 24x7.