Authentic Web flags persistent DNS security gaps in healthcare

Authentic Web’s 2026 benchmark of 25 healthcare organizations found recurring DNS misconfigurations, insecure redirects and record ownership gaps that can expose patient and staff traffic. The report argues the industry needs continuous governance, not one-time cleanup, to reduce phishing, takeover and compliance risk.

Why it matters: - Healthcare DNS weaknesses can expose patient portals, telehealth, email, clinical systems, vendor integrations and public-facing services to takeover, interception and disruption. - The report says point-in-time scans and manual cleanup are not enough when ownership, change control and audit evidence are missing. - Regulators and auditors are increasingly expecting evidence of control, including under the HIPAA Security Rule risk analysis and NIST CSF 2.0’s Govern function.

What happened: - Authentic Web released its 2026 Healthcare DNS Security and Compliance Benchmark Report on Sept. 24, 2026. - The study examined 25 healthcare organizations, 9,372 domains and more than 32,545 DNS records. - The research used publicly available DNS data to assess external security and governance without accessing internal systems.

The details: - 38% of redirects were insecure, creating a path for interception or redirection of patient and staff traffic. - 33% of CNAMEs were dangling and resolvable to decommissioned resources, which can make them eligible for takeover. - 62% of A records were orphaned or insecure, raising takeover, session compromise or man-in-the-middle risk. - 20% of domains had lame delegations, which can expose them to DNS hijacking. - 46% of domains lacked SPF, and 44% lacked DMARC, leaving them more vulnerable to spoofing and phishing campaigns. - The report says some measures improved from the 2024 study, but the underlying control gap persisted. - Many organizations can identify DNS exposures but still lack the ownership, workflow, policy enforcement and audit evidence needed to keep issues from returning.

Between the lines: - The benchmark frames DNS as a governance problem, not just a technical hygiene issue. - Authentic Web argues DNS risk now spans infrastructure, security, cloud, DevOps, marketing and business operations, which makes fragmented ownership a recurring failure point. - Peter LaMantia, Authentic Web’s CEO, said organizations can discover DNS risk without actually controlling DNS, so vulnerabilities can be fixed and then recreated. - The company is positioning continuous control and evidence collection as the next step beyond discovery tools and one-off remediation.

What's next: - Authentic Web is introducing “The DNS Governance Operating Model,” a continuous operating cycle aimed at moving organizations from discovery to operational control. - The model is intended to track what exists, who owns it, which policies apply, whether controls are enforced and what evidence is available for security, compliance and audit teams. - Authentic Web is offering a complimentary Domain & DNS Control Assessment for enterprise security, infrastructure and domain management leaders. - The full report is available for download from Authentic Web here.