It’s Up to You to Secure Your Medical Devices 

Medical devices… Where would today’s hospital be without them? Telemetry systems, infusion pumps, blood glucose meters, etc. They are not only helping to advance and improve healthcare delivery and information, but they are improving the quality of life for the many patients’ who depend upon them. Yet because of many factors, these same devices that bring so many benefits, also pose many risks to hospital networks and to the safety and security of patients.

The increase of connected medical devices – everything from small, portable devices to mobile appliances and large, fixed machines – coming onto the IT network has led to the emergence of a concept called the medical Internet of Things. ABI Research calculates that there will be 154 million connections for healthcare equipment and home and patient monitoring by 2021, up from 70 million by the end of 2016.

Healthcare delivery organizations are tasked with delivering safe and effective healthcare, and this becomes increasingly difficult as networked medical devices proliferate. Risks include everything from the technological challenges that come with managing millions of connections which can be vastly different from each other and from those used in traditional IT settings, to device vulnerabilities, to threats from cyber attackers.

Unfortunately, despite policy and research advances, medical OEMs and healthcare providers are not yet implementing cybersecurity for medical devices in any coordinated or widespread manner. While the argument can be made that medical device cybersecurity should be recognized as a public health issue and one of growing critical importance, until that happens it’s up to you!

Healthcare organizations must take it into their own hands to educate themselves on the key cybersecurity threat factors so they can adequately address cybersecurity for medical devices and ensure the protection and safety of their patients.

A new report by ABI Research, Medical Device Cybersecurity, is a great starting point to allow you to understand:

• The expansion of the medical IoT and the challenges resulting from diversity and connectivity
• The evolving threat landscape and the risks to the device, infrastructure, patient and provider
• How to implement medical security and safety

The good news is that there are technology companies (and Extreme happens to be one of them) that are offering a range of solutions for healthcare, including application and intelligence control, clinical-grade BYOD and IoT and medical device safety.

Attending HIMSS17 this year? Register now for a personal demo tour to experience the latest technologies advancing clinical and patient care at Extreme’s booth #6974. By registering now you will also instantly win a $5 Starbucks gift card AND be entered into our daily raffle at HIMSS17 to win an Amazon Echo!.

Be sure to read the report to learn more about how you can achieve the balance of taking advantage of the technological benefits of connected medical devices while minimizing the potential risks.