While IoT has been seen, for the most part, as personal communication devices carried by individuals, IoT has evolved into so much more over the last couple of decades. Many industries have adopted networked technologies to improve their control and measurement capabilities. By implementing IoT devices organizations extend the efficiency of their primary service delivery objectives. IoT has essentially become a mainstay for many industries, allowing remote monitoring and control at scale.
Since these devices are required to have a consistent connection to a networked interface, they have become part of the attack surface of these industries. As such, cyber security measures need to be implemented to safeguard the IoT devices, to safeguard the organization.
As with any other cyber security attack surface, visibility and knowledge of potential vulnerabilities are key. By implementing a solution that can assess and highlight these key metrics, healthcare institutions can increase their healthcare IoT security when it comes to IoT devices.
IoT devices in the Healthcare Sector
In the healthcare industry, innovators have found that combining the need for sensor-based technologies with global positioning and wireless data communication, opens many doors and solves complex problems.
The internet and communication infrastructure have enabled a new generation of linked healthcare devices that monitor key indicators and plan or control drug administration. IoT-based healthcare solutions have been found to increase therapy effectiveness while saving money for both patients and practices.
The amount of accurate, real-time data that medical IoT devices can collect is limited only by their ability to transmit data to the cloud. Making the number of possible data points nearly limitless while remarkably increasing the accuracy of such readings.
IoT in the healthcare sector provides advantages such as reduced cost, improved diagnosis turnaround, proactive treatment, and effective management of medicine, to name but a few.
Cyber Threats to Healthcare IoT
IoT devices, which are built specifically for the medical industry, are typically designed around function and patient comfort. These devices often lack the most basic security mechanisms, such as encryption, to keep them secure. While IoT devices in health care, are utilized for monitoring patient vitals and diagnostic purposes, threat actors are usually interested in IoT devices since they are often unprotected. This is especially true when new devices are implemented and are still part of the institution’s cyber security edge.
Hospitals are, unfortunately, high on the target list of threat actors. By breaching a healthcare institution’s IoT cyber security layer, threat actors can acquire a rich bounty of patient information along with the financial information of the institution. A lack of cyber security awareness coupled with unprotected IoT devices makes these institutions a big target.
The Importance of Securing Healthcare IoT
In the healthcare industry, IoT devices must be secured, particularly if they stream data over wireless networks. Patient safety is the most significant risk, aside from privacy concerns, doubts about the authenticity of healthcare information, and unfavorable financial and reputational consequences. Malicious cyber-attacks are rarely reported to be directly responsible for compromising the health and safety of patients, but they are possible.
A slight change in the value of vital metrics obtained by medical devices such as pulse oximeters or glucose meters can have a devastating impact on how patient care is administered and drug dosages. Furthermore, hackers who gain access to medical devices may change their operating modes and turn them into lethal weapons. Infiltrating a hospital network and gaining access to other medical equipment with a single device is a dangerous but plausible situation.
Detection and classification of IoT devices are possible in real-time, minimizing the threat to healthcare providers. After identifying, classifying, controlling, and securing IoT devices, an automated security tool can monitor their behavior. A thorough risk assessment can identify and resolve any IoT device security vulnerabilities.
To Summarize
The importance of securing healthcare IoT devices cannot be understated. Healthcare institutions don’t only have a business compliance responsibility, but also a moral responsibility to ensure that all devices utilized in their establishment are under their complete control and remain that way. By implementing industry-specific cyber security tools healthcare providers can empower themselves to effectively protect their IoT attack surface from threat actors. This in turn ensures service continuity for the healthcare provider. Protecting customer and patient information while promoting full IoT asset visibility across all devices.
Also Read: How To Strengthen Cybersecurity In The Age Of IoT?
