The State of Healthcare Cybersecurity

August 17, 2017 — Cybersecurity has become a growing concern in healthcare as patient data, medical systems and implantable devices become more digitally connected. The lax cyber security measures in healthcare IT have also spurred a large number of hacking attacks and ransomware attacks on U.S. hospitals over the past few years. After a financial market report last August unveiled cybersecurity vulnerabilities on electrophysiology devices and monitoring systems that use wireless communications, there have been questions about how security of medical devices should be regulated. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced plans to begin this type of regulation and has already held public meetings. 

DAIC has created a cybersecurity channel that will include related news as it becomes available. 

Below is a roundup of DAIC content to help explain cybersecurity issues in healthcare and potential solutions:

Raising the Bar for Medical Device Cyber Security

Abbott, St. Jude Medical Fixes Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities of its Pacemakers, ICDs

FDA Seeks Management of Cybersecurity in Medical Devices

Healthcare Industry Lacking in Basic Cybersecurity Awareness Among Staff

HHS Unveils Improved Web Tool to Highlight Recent Health Information Breaches

FDA Confirms Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities of St. Jude’s Implantable Cardiac Devices, Merlin Transmitter

Logicalis Healthcare Solutions Focuses on Top Five Cybersecurity Issues for CIOs at HIMSS17

HIMSS Applauds Passage of Healthcare Cybersecurity Provisions in the U.S. 2016 Omnibus Spending

Market Report Calls Into Question St. Jude Medical EP Device Safety, Cybersecurity

FDA Harshly Criticizes Abbott, St. Jude For Failure to Address EP Device Safety

Healthcare 2015 Data Breaches - Why the Cloud Is Not Responsible

HIMSS: Two-Thirds of Healthcare Organizations Experienced a Recent, Significant Security Incident

How You Should – and Should Not – Be Sharing Medical Information With Patients

How Can Doctors Practice Better Security?

Here is the link to the HHS portal where healthcare organizations report healthcare data breaches. It lists breaches by size, organization and year:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, Breach Portal: Notice to the Secretary of HHS Breach of Unsecured Protected Health Information