Posted by Why Do Medical Devices Need to Be Secured?
Medical devices offer a wide range of benefits, such as; improved treatments, better patient monitoring, more precise diagnostics, automated control, monitoring of data, and central reporting among others. Leaders in medical devices manufacturing are developing innovations of higher sophistication and better connectivity that can improve the viability of tasks. However, with increased connectivity, comes greater risk of security breach for both providers and patients. Although these robust producers are design and develop highly efficient medical device with disruptive technologies, they often lack the provision of security into these products.
Certain devices do employ new protocols, and middleware solutions, but they are not thoroughly vetted for security problems, thus easily compromised a slew of medical devices to hackers. The lack of robust security solutions in medical device makes them vulnerable to cyberthreat, resulting in the infiltration of ransomware. Cyberthreat on medical devices is observed to rise at an alarming rate, creating the need for developing an effective system for encrypting critical data to prevent such attacks in future.
What Are Cybersecurity Risks and Which Organizations Are Responsible for Mitigating Such Risks?
Healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) and Medical device manufacturers (MDMs) are responsible for mitigating cybersecurity risks on medical devices. They both need to ensure appropriate safeguards for medical devices. While, medical device manufacturers are expected to remain vigilant about the identification of risks and hazards that are associated with medical devices, including cybersecurity threats, health care delivery organizations are expected to evaluate their network security to protect hospital systems. Moreover, MDMs and HDOs are accountable for putting appropriate mitigations solutions in place to ensure proper performance of medical devices and address patient safety risks.
What are the Types of Medical Device Security Services and How Do They Help?
Internally embedded devices, application security, endpoint security, cloud security, and network security are types of medical device security services that are dedicated to protect medical devices against cyberthreat.
Healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs), such as; clinics and hospitals, are complex organizations with a broad range of Internet of medical things (IoMT), Information Technology (IT), Internet of Things (IoT), and Operational Technology (OT) enabled devices connected internally. The rise in the adoption of such devices and the introduction of diverse medical devices in HDOs have pose new cybersecurity threats as the ability to compromise networks and devices, along with surge in possibility for monetizing patient data are observed. The pandemic has created the need for medical devices that are proficient in collecting, storing, tracking, and analyzing data, and offer better connectivity. A study shows that around 82% of the U.S. hospitals have report an increase in incident of security breach and last two years. Thus, the installation of medical devices with robust security solutions can only slash the risk of cyberthreat and protect data.
Medical Device Security Services Enable Organizations to Offer High Quality of Care
Top medical device security services providers are working on designing a security strategy around medical devices and managing the interconnectivity of such devices and provide remedy to identified risks on these devices. An effective medical device security program is identified by its ability to not only information and sensitive data on patient health but assure organizations the uninterrupted quality care by curbing clinical operations risk in the digital health environment.
CynergisTek, a healthcare security service provider based in the US, medical device security services help multiple stakeholders including, IT, Security, and Clinical Engineering understand the number and type of medical devices connected to the network, those that contain ePHI and the security vulnerabilities of these devices. Medical devices do not follow the same rules as other networked devices; therefore, we help:
Global Market Status
Market Research Future (MRFR) analyzed the global medical device security market 2021 for the assessment period till 2023. According to MRFR study, the medical device security market is likely to expand at 8.8% CAGR through the evaluation period (from 2017 to 2023). By 2023, the medical device security market value can touch USD 556.5 Mn from USD 335.5 Mn in 2017.
Extensive Use of IoT-Assisted Medical Devices to Spike the Need for Medical Device Security Services
The increase in incidences of theft of personal data and cyber-attacks over the past few years owing to growing adoption of advanced medical devices-enabled by IoT. The surge in the utility of healthcare sector in developed regions and the emergence of latest security solutions can add to the medical device market in the years to come. Identity & access management solutions, encryption solutions, antivirus or antimalware solutions, data loss prevention solutions, intrusion detection system or intrusion prevention systems, risk & compliance management, distributed denial of service solutions, and disaster recovery solutions among others are components of medical device security that are gaining high prominence among healthcare delivery organizations can prompt the medical device security market in the near future.
The surge in the installation of medical devices in the medical sector in both developing and developed regions as increase in concerns regarding theft of medical data is surging. The growing incidences of cybercrime and rise in cases of misuse of personal data are other factors that are contributing to the surge in demand for modern medical device security modules. These factors are observed to underpin the global medical device security market. On the contrary, lack of expertise and decrease in accessibility of technologically advanced medical devices can hinder the market growth. Moreover, the lack of awareness about advanced healthcare data security solutions in the market, along with and low healthcare budgets are identified as other restraints on the growth of the worldwide market of medical device security over the review period.
Conclusion
Cyberthreats will only increase in the following years as the healthcare system turns more digitized. Thus, the need to secure medical devices to prevent breach of sensitive data, increase in the incorporation of medical device security components and surge in adoption of medical device security services are expected. These can contribute to a promising future for the global medical device security market.