Like it or not healthcare delivery is changing, we are more reliant upon technology today than ever before to diagnose, treat, observe, manage and monitor patients. A basic systems outage is enough to bring an entire hospital or clinic to its knees. Just look at what happened in the UK when Ransomware took down much of the NHS. 

 

But our technology reliance is not just focused on IT systems any longer, there are a multitude of different Healthcare Internet of Things (HIoT) devices that we use to improve patient outcomes. All kinds of medical devices, from IMDs, to pumps, to scanners, to patient and nurse call systems, all of which are critical in direct patient care. And let’s not forget, that we cannot do without HVAC systems, elevators, power, water and other building management systems, nearly all of which are now ‘smart’ and ‘connected’. 

 

What happens when these simple devices are attacked by extortionists and cyber-criminals? Do most of us even know how many we actually have in each location, when they were last patched, and what security risks they pose to patients and to hospital IT systems? Just because they may be connected to an isolated network or VLAN doesn’t mean they are isolated.

 

How can we gain greater visibility into what’s happening in our hospitals and become better prepared to defend ourselves from the next inevitable attack?