Bridging Zero-Trust Security and Legacy Medical Devices: An Evaluation of Windows 11 Adoption in Hospital Clinical Workstations

The increasing number of cyberattacks on healthcare organizations has made it one of the most targeted industries (Ponemon Institute, 2022; HIMSS, 2023). Existing security models are failing, particularly given the heterogeneity of hospital networks: legacy systems, unmanaged medical devices, shared workstations, remote access devices, work-from-home devices, and other machines. Many hospitals still operate Windows 10 or older devices, allowing attackers to penetrate systems and launch cyberattacks, violating regulatory and compliance standards such as HIPAA and data protection requirements (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). Traditional perimeter-based security models are insufficient for modern healthcare environments (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2020a; Cisco Systems, 2022). This research analyses the integration of Zero-Trust Architecture (ZTA), Windows 11 security features, clinical workstation protection, and medical device compatibility in hospitals. Implementation aligns with NIST Zero Trust, ISO 42001, and HIPAA security and privacy rules (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2020a; International Organization for Standardization, 2023; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023), preparing hospitals for evolving cyber threats. This paper also suggests future research directions using cloud-driven Zero Trust models (Microsoft, 2023a).