LAX Oversight of IoT Creates Cybersecurity Risks
Hospital data breaches often stem from hackers accessing email accounts, electronic health records and other digital repositories.
But according to this article from Modern Healthcare, medical devices create additional access points that hackers could target to enter a hospital's network and steal data, cybersecurity experts warn.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the problem, as providers rapidly added web-connected equipment to increase patient data collection and minimize touchpoints.
Waller's Beth Pitman noted that the problem will only get worse because providers often overlook medical devices during their security risk assessments.
"They don't always think about whether the wireless pulse oximeter on a patient's finger had its software updated or is old and needs to be replaced," Beth said.
Beth also thought it made sense for CMS to further examine providers' cybersecurity through its hospital surveys, but she was wary of piling more regulations onto providers.
"That would be difficult for the industry to bear," she said.