Cybersecurity concerns for connected healthcare devices

Abstract 

Because of their long life-cycles and critical nature, medical devices are particularly prone to cyber attacks. It is crucial for every device, from class III implantable devices, to simple analytical equipment, to have a solid cybersecurity plan from the beginning. Security can not be bolted on later. Thus, investment in medical device cybersecurity is critical to deliver the full promise of next-generation healthcare technology. 

This whitepaper will explore and evaluate the ongoing situation surrounding concerns about the security of connected healthcare devices. 

 
 
Cybersecurity for Connected Healthcare Devices

The idea of connected healthcare devices is simple enough: digitize and collect a massive amount of medical data. Use data science and large scale analytics to recognize patterns and make more informed future predictions. Then, provide that analysis to medical professionals to augment diagnosis. It makes the practice of medicine more science and less intuition and judgment. That should be an improvement. 
In theory, the connected devices should allow patients and providers to take unprecedented control of health care. In practice, it is shaping up to be a security nightmare. 

Health care organizations have been very focused on protecting traditional IT, spending millions of dollars to secure their systems. However, the use of connected wearable devices means that the door of what is meant to be a secure system is left ajar. 
Various estimates show that the spending by healthcare providers and OEMs on healthcare cybersecurity will cross USD 5 billion by 2017. However, only USD 400 million of the estimated spend will be dedicated to securing medical devices. 

The money spent on securing medical devices will primarily be due to OEMs embedding security in the hardware, reviewing, analyzing, pen testing, developing patches, and performing OTA updates, among other functions. Globally, the efforts are poor, and the U.S. is the only country currently devoting significant energy to tackle the matter.