Top HIPAA And Healthcare Penetration Testing Companies In 2026
Lily Roberts
Senior Marketing Strategist - ReVerb
10.23.2026
The best HIPAA penetration testing companies for most healthcare organizations in 2026 are White Knight Labs, for manual-heavy testing of ePHI systems that extends to EMR platforms, patient portals and medical devices; Clearwater, for hospitals and health systems that want testing from a firm that works only in healthcare; and Meditology Services, for providers that want healthcare-specific network, application, cloud and AI penetration testing with patient safety built into the method. This guide to the Top HIPAA And Healthcare Penetration Testing Companies In 2026 covers seven more firms, from healthcare MSSPs to medical device specialists.
This list is for security, compliance and IT leaders at hospitals, health systems, health plans, digital health companies and business associates who need outside testing to support their HIPAA Security Rule program. We only included service firms that publish a named HIPAA or healthcare penetration testing offering, or a healthcare-specific testing practice. We compared what each firm says about scope, medical devices, methodology and reporting, using the companies’ own websites. For background on how testing fits compliance work, read our penetration testing for compliance guide.
What HIPAA Actually Requires
The current HIPAA Security Rule does not name penetration testing as a required control. It does require covered entities and business associates to conduct an accurate and thorough risk analysis and to perform periodic technical and nontechnical evaluations of their safeguards under 45 CFR 164.308(a)(8). A penetration test is one of the most common ways to produce evidence for both, but it does not, on its own, make an organization HIPAA compliant.
That may change. A proposed update to the Security Rule, published on 6 January 2025, would require penetration testing at least once every 12 months and vulnerability scanning at least every six months. It is still a proposal: the 2026 federal Unified Agenda lists July 2027 as the projected date for final action. Buyers should plan for annual testing now, but treat the specific frequencies as proposed rather than current law.
HIPAA Penetration Testing Companies At A Glance
Company
Headquarters
Best For
Healthcare Testing Coverage
White Knight Labs
Guys Mills, Pennsylvania, USA
Manual testing of ePHI systems and medical devices
External, internal, EMR, patient portals, APIs, SSO, medical devices, cloud
Clearwater
United States
Hospitals wanting a healthcare-only partner
Internal, external, web, mobile, API, wireless, social engineering, medical device and IoT
Meditology Services
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Providers wanting healthcare-specific testing
Network, application, cloud, vulnerability scanning, AI penetration testing
Fortified Health Security
Brentwood, Tennessee, USA
Health systems that also want a healthcare SOC
Internal, external, wireless, application, red team
Blue Goat Cyber
Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
Medical device makers preparing FDA submissions
Firmware, hardware interfaces, wireless, companion apps, APIs, cloud back ends
Software Secured
Canada
Digital health and SaaS vendors selling to hospitals
Web, mobile, API, cloud, PTaaS, BAA available
Blaze Information Security
Portugal and Brazil
Findings mapped to specific Security Rule safeguards
Device-to-cloud testing, premarket and postmarket devices
Tevora
Irvine, California, USA
Enterprises wanting CREST testing plus device work
Network, application, cloud, medical device and IoT
KirkpatrickPrice
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Organizations pursuing HITRUST alongside HIPAA
Network, web, mobile, API, IoT, wireless, social engineering
Best HIPAA And Healthcare Penetration Testing Companies In 2026
1. White Knight Labs — EMR, Patient Portal And Medical Device Testing For ePHI Environments
White Knight Labs is a boutique offensive security firm founded in 2017, with offices in Guys Mills, Pennsylvania, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Its HIPAA penetration testing service is framed accurately: the firm notes that HIPAA does not explicitly mandate penetration testing but does require ongoing evaluation of safeguards under 45 CFR 164.308(a)(8), and it positions testing as the technical evidence for that evaluation across administrative, physical and technical safeguards.
The scope is built around where ePHI actually lives. Testers cover external systems that store or transmit ePHI, internal networks and access paths to ePHI systems, web applications, patient portals and EMR platforms, and APIs and integrations with third-party healthcare systems. They also test authentication, SSO and role-based access, endpoint security and privilege escalation, cloud-hosted healthcare environments in AWS, Azure and GCP, and embedded hardware and medical devices.
Engagements start with a scoping call to define systems, applications, medical devices and reporting needs. Deliverables include an executive summary and technical report, scan results and evidence, proof of exploitation where applicable, remediation recommendations prioritized against HIPAA safeguards, an optional retest and additional reporting for OCR or state-level auditors. The firm describes its overall testing mix as roughly 20% automation and 80% manual, holds CREST Pathway+ status and is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business.
Best for: Healthcare organizations and business associates that want mostly manual testing across EMR, portal, API, cloud and medical device attack surfaces.
2. Clearwater — Healthcare-Only Testing Across 14 Service Types
Clearwater Security and Compliance works exclusively in healthcare and says it brings two decades of experience to a client base of more than 500 customers across the healthcare ecosystem, including hospitals, physician groups, digital health firms and health plans.
Its technical testing practice lists 14 services. They include internal and external penetration testing, web application and mobile app testing for iOS and Android, API security assessments, wireless network testing and social engineering through phishing and smishing. On the device side, it offers a medical device and IoT mini assessment, a medical device lifecycle security assessment and IoT and embedded device security work.
Best for: Hospitals and health systems that want penetration testing, device assessments and risk analysis from a healthcare-only firm.
3. Meditology Services — Patient-Safety-Aware Testing From A Healthcare Specialist
Atlanta-based Meditology Services provides cybersecurity and compliance consulting exclusively for the healthcare industry. Its technical testing line covers network penetration testing, web application security testing for healthcare technology devices and platforms, public and private cloud testing, vulnerability scanning and an AI penetration testing service it describes as a healthcare-specific way to find vulnerabilities in generative AI.
The method is designed for clinical environments. Meditology says it uses safe testing methods to protect patient safety, simulates current real-world attacks on healthcare organizations, aligns work with MITRE, OWASP and OSSTMM, and relies on manual testing by a certified team.
Best for: Providers that want healthcare-specific network, application and AI testing with patient safety written into the approach.
Fortified Health Security is a healthcare-focused cybersecurity firm based in Brentwood, Tennessee, serving hospitals and health systems, healthcare technology and medical device companies, provider groups and health plans. It says it has completed hundreds of healthcare engagements.
Its advanced penetration testing service separates two engagement types clearly. Penetration testing targets predefined systems with the security team aware, which suits compliance and known-risk reduction. Red teaming covers people, process and technology with the security team unaware, combining phishing, social engineering, physical entry and stealthy lateral movement. Penetration test options include internal and external networks, wireless networks including rogue access points, and web applications assessed against OWASP practices.
Best for: Health systems that want both compliance-driven pentests and stealth red team exercises from a healthcare MSSP. See our red teaming vs penetration testing guide to decide which you need.
5. Blue Goat Cyber — FDA-Focused Medical Device Penetration Testing
Blue Goat Cyber, led by founder and CEO Christian Espinosa and based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business focused on medical device cybersecurity. Its penetration testing is aimed at device makers preparing premarket submissions under Section 524B of the FD&C Act and the FDA’s premarket cybersecurity guidance, rather than at hospital networks.
Testing covers firmware, hardware debug interfaces, wireless radios, companion apps, APIs and cloud back ends, and only starts once a threat model and hazard analysis exist; Blue Goat can build these or review existing ones. The firm recommends white-box testing, says black-box testing alone is not enough for FDA submissions and describes its work as mostly manual and expert-led.
Deliverables include a test plan, test cases and a test report covering tester independence, scope, methods, CVSS-scored findings, ISO 14971 patient-harm context and retest status. Blue Goat publishes a starting price of about $15,000 for a simple device, typical timelines of three to five weeks and unlimited retests within the fixed fee until findings with uncontrolled risk are closed.
Best for: Medical device manufacturers that need penetration testing evidence for FDA premarket submissions.
6. Software Secured — Manual-First Testing For Digital Health Vendors
Software Secured is a Canadian penetration testing firm founded in 2010 by Sherif Koussa, who helped launch OWASP projects including WebGoat and the Cheat Sheets. Its healthcare practice is aimed at digital health companies and vendors selling software into hospitals.
The scope targets the parts of healthcare software that leak PHI: patient and clinician mobile apps including telehealth media paths, TLS pinning and certificate validation; registration, scheduling and billing logic; token validation, rate limits and tenant isolation in APIs; and IAM and KMS misconfigurations in the cloud. Testing is manual-first and preferably runs on staging or UAT environments that do not hold real PHI, and the firm says it can sign a Business Associate Agreement.
Software Secured is careful in its FAQ that a pentest is not a certification but evidence that safeguards work. Reports include engineer-ready findings plus executive summaries and compliance mappings for auditors and hospital buyers, arrive within 48 to 72 hours of test completion, and retests can be requested within 12 months. It also sells continuous manual testing through a PTaaS model.
Best for: Digital health and healthcare SaaS vendors that need to show hospital customers their apps and APIs protect PHI.
Blaze Information Security, founded in 2016 with offices in Portugal and Brazil, offers a dedicated HIPAA penetration testing service and describes its engagements as CREST accredited. Its framing is accurate: the firm states that HIPAA does not name penetration testing as a specific requirement, and that testing supports risk analysis and periodic evaluation without replacing a HIPAA compliance assessment.
Scope covers patient portals, healthcare applications, telehealth platforms, APIs, cloud environments, identity systems and networks that handle ePHI. The useful detail for compliance teams is how findings are mapped: Blaze ties results to Security Rule sections for access control, integrity, person or entity authentication, transmission security and evaluation.
Best for: Healthcare technology companies that want findings mapped to specific Security Rule safeguards for their auditors.
8. Praetorian — Device-To-Cloud Testing For Connected Medical Products
Praetorian, based in Austin, Texas, runs medical device penetration testing through its IoT practice. Its approach follows data flows that begin at a hardware device and end in a backend cloud environment, which may pass through mobile apps, WiFi access points or cellular gateways. Engagements can cover both premarket and postmarket devices, and the firm orients its activities around FDA standards.
Deliverables include an executive summary, a technical findings report, an outbrief presentation and a letter of attestation on request.
Best for: Device makers and health tech companies that need the whole connected ecosystem tested, from hardware to cloud.
9. Tevora — CREST-Accredited Testing That Includes Medical Devices
Tevora was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Irvine, California, and lists healthcare among its core industries. Its CREST-accredited penetration testing covers networks, cloud, segmentation, web and mobile applications, APIs and AI systems, and its device and IoT line explicitly includes medical devices.
Tevora’s own framing of HIPAA matches the regulation: it says HIPAA does not name penetration testing specifically, but testing can support the risk analysis requirement.
Best for: Larger healthcare organizations that want CREST-accredited network, application and medical device testing from one provider.
KirkpatrickPrice, with its corporate office in Nashville, Tennessee, is a licensed CPA firm, PCI QSA and HITRUST CSF assessor. That last credential is the reason it belongs on a healthcare list: many healthcare vendors pursue HITRUST certification alongside their HIPAA program, and penetration testing evidence feeds both.
Its testing menu includes network, web application, mobile application, API, IoT, wireless, code review, continuous and social engineering testing. The firm stresses manual techniques and human judgment, draws its methodology from OSSTMM, NIST, OWASP, SANS and CERT/CC, and retests after remediation. Reports include a narrative of the testing techniques used plus remediation guidance.
Best for: Healthcare vendors working toward HITRUST certification that want testing and assessment from one firm.
How To Choose A HIPAA Penetration Testing Company
Do They Describe HIPAA Accurately?
A vendor that says HIPAA mandates an annual pentest today is overselling. The better firms on this list, including White Knight Labs, Blaze, Software Secured and Tevora, explain that testing supports the risk analysis and evaluation requirements, and treat the proposed annual testing rule as pending.
Does The Scope Follow Your ePHI?
Map where ePHI is stored, processed and transmitted before you scope the test: EMR platforms, patient portals, integration engines, APIs, cloud storage and the identity systems that guard them. Then check that the vendor’s scope covers each one rather than only the network perimeter.
How Will They Protect Clinical Operations?
Ask how the vendor avoids disrupting care. Look for testing windows, passive methods near clinical systems, staging environments for applications and clear rules for medical devices. Meditology and Fortified both call out patient safety and clinical continuity explicitly.
Do You Need Hospital Testing Or Device Testing?
These are different jobs. Hospitals need network, application and identity testing across a live environment. Device makers need firmware, hardware and wireless testing documented for FDA submissions, which is where Blue Goat Cyber and Praetorian focus.
What Do Reports And Retests Include?
Ask for a sample report that shows scope, methodology, evidence and remediation guidance, ideally mapped to Security Rule safeguards. Our penetration testing report guide covers the essentials, and our penetration testing cost guide helps with budgeting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does HIPAA Require Penetration Testing?
Not explicitly under the current Security Rule. HIPAA requires a risk analysis and periodic evaluations of safeguards, and penetration testing is a common way to support both. A proposed rule published in January 2025 would require penetration testing at least every 12 months, but it had not been finalized as of late 2026.
What Is The Difference Between HIPAA Penetration Testing And A HIPAA Risk Assessment?
A risk assessment identifies and rates risks to ePHI across the organization. A penetration test actively tries to exploit technical weaknesses to show what an attacker could reach. The test feeds the assessment; it does not replace it. See what is penetration testing for a primer.
Are Business Associates Expected To Test Too?
The Security Rule applies to business associates as well as covered entities, and hospitals often ask vendors for recent test evidence during procurement.
Conclusion
The right healthcare penetration testing company depends on whether you run clinical systems, build healthcare software or make devices. White Knight Labs suits organizations that want mostly manual testing across EMR, portal, API, cloud and medical device attack surfaces, Clearwater suits hospitals that want a healthcare-only partner, and Meditology suits providers that want healthcare-specific testing with patient safety at the center. Fortified, Blue Goat Cyber, Software Secured, Blaze, Praetorian, Tevora and KirkpatrickPrice each fit narrower needs, from healthcare SOC support to FDA device submissions and HITRUST.
