Healthcare cybersecurity provider CynergisTek has started providing its new Biomedical Device Security Risk Assessment service to multiple health systems, including a 28-hospital health system.
Image: CynergisTek stars offering biomedical device security risk assessment Photo: Courtesy of Markus Spiske/Unsplash.
Offered as the first step of its larger managed BioMedical Device Security service program, the assessment takes an enterprise approach to reviewing healthcare organizations’ security and risk management of biomedical and clinical devices to identify gaps, vulnerabilities, and risks and provides recommendations for improving overall device security.
Biomedical devices are being introduced into hospitals’ networks at a rapid pace, resulting in increased vulnerabilities, new threat vectors, and greater risk to both patient care and patient data. In response to these new risks, CynergisTek launched the Biomedical Device Security Risk Assessment service last spring.
With this service, healthcare organizations can take a holistic approach to assessing medical device management to gain an understanding of the number of devices and their known risks and vulnerabilities to develop a more comprehensive security strategy that covers the full lifecycle of devices.
CynergisTek executive vice president David Finn said: “If a biomedical device is compromised or taken offline by a hacker, that poses a significant safety threat as providers may be unable to deliver the care a patient needs, putting the patient’s life in danger.
“Given the crucial role biomedical devices play in delivering patient care, it is critical that healthcare organizations take proactive steps to address the risks and vulnerabilities associated with these devices.”
CynergisTek CEO Mac McMillan said: “We’ve heard loud and clear from our clients that this is a top concern for them, which prompted us to begin developing a portfolio of biomedical device security services to solve this problem.
“As healthcare continues to be a top target for cyberattacks, biomedical devices are an additional entry point into the network for malicious actors. Our services will be specifically tailored to provide an end-to-end approach to device security by identifying, locating, evaluating and mitigating risk across all devices in use at an organization. We have seen high demand for this solution because it is the first that combines technology and process to accurately find and assess these devices without creating additional risk.”
CynergisTek is developing a comprehensive set of managed services to ensure security best practices for the planning, implementation, and ongoing maintenance of an organization’s biomedical device lifecycle management program.
From device acquisition to retirement, CynergisTek’s managed service program will provide initial one-time services to support program implementation and optimization activities as well as ongoing support to ensure a continued focus on addressing new biomedical device vulnerabilities and risks as they are discovered.
Source: Company Press Release.