As the healthcare industry continues to embrace the Internet of Things, cybersecurity may present unprecedented health and privacy risks to patients. Wireless-enabled medical devices are increasingly common. For some patients, this means that their hearts are, quite literally, connected to the Internet of Things. For others, mobile medical apps and wearable products are collecting personal health data that may be inadequately protected.
The medical device industry came under fire this year when a Senator from California sent a letter to the top five U.S. medical device manufacturers expressing “serious concerns that the cybersecurity vulnerabilities in medical devices are putting the health and safety of patients in California and across the country at risk.” Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) wrote her letter in response to findings from an independent security researcher who discovered certain vulnerabilities in drug infusion pumps used in hospitals. The researcher discovered that the device software was vulnerable to infiltration that had the potential to manipulate the pump’s drug dosage levels. Unfortunately, this is not the first time this risk has been demonstrated. For instance, similar studies have revealed the vulnerabilities of wireless-enabled pacemakers and defibrillators, which in some cases have led to embarrassing public disclosuresby companies seeking to profit from such vulnerabilities. For the full article click here
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