Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health has opened an innovation lab to test the security of medical devices utilized throughout the health system, including infusion pumps, anesthesia machines, and patient monitors.
“The threats to healthcare are absolutely real,” says an Indiana University Health technology expert who cautions the recent cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline Co., the largest fuel pipeline in the U.S., should serve as a warning for the medical industry.
Cybersecurity experts believe it’s only a matter of time before a similar attack on a hospital, for example, causes tragic consequences. The reality of medical devices relying on the internet to function is that patients’ lives are dependent on their security. Motivated by patient safety and lessons learned during the pandemic, IU Health says it’s taking matters into its own hands by opening a lab to test medical devices their patients rely on.
The threat hit very close to home in 2018 when hackers launched a ransomware attack on Hancock Health in Greenfield. The attack targeted the most critical information systems of the hospital, and the president and chief executive officer later shared that “fortunately, patient life support systems were not directly affected.”
Read the full article on Inside Indiana Business.
