Manufacturers of medical devices and other Internet of Things (IoT) tools are increasingly seeking help to review and secure their source code.
A lot of people are rushing these devices to market with little regard to implementing any security as part of them. There seems to be demand for consumers to connect almost any device to the Internet, even where it doesn’t make any sense. Hackers are using these as easy targets.
Risks from consumer devices are one thing but poorly designed medical devices – which are coming under fire as they are increasingly connected into what some call the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) – can cause loss of confidential patient information and even put lives at risk.
Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are ripe targets for ransomware, DDoS attacks, and IoMT breaches.
Many of these organisations are producing products that are designed for mass deployments. There’s a lot more risk to these things than when they were traditionally disconnected. Any insecurities in those mass-market products could turn those things into zombie networks. The manufacturers we have dealt with are taking note of that, and are trying to build security into the design of the new products they are bringing to market.”
We sat down with CSO to discuss the IoT security vulnerabilities in Australian hospitals and how they can better protect themselves.