Medical Device Cyber Security: An Open Letter From Jim Jacobson

Posted 28th March 2018 by Jane Williams

Dear Colleagues,

The time for comprehensive IT security within healthcare facilities has come. We see news stories every day making the need obvious: stolen data, compromised devices, and interruptions in care delivery. The cyber security threat landscape is constantly evolving. Our defensive measures must evolve too.

A successful defence requires a collaborative approach between medical device manufacturers, healthcare delivery organisations, regulators and other stakeholders.

Manufacturers often have well-established practices. Threats to patient safety, along with other concerns such as data privacy, drive manufacturers toward secure offerings. Our collective challenge as stakeholders is to integrate broadly accepted cyber security principles and techniques into existing processes and harden the systems, solutions and services provided to healthcare delivery organisations.

We must increase transparency and collaboration to accomplish this mission. Medical device manufacturers are accustomed to touting the virtues of their products. Expanding transparency to potential cyber security vulnerabilities will enable customers to best protect their environments and establish a trusted partnership. A trusted partnership benefits everyone: healthcare delivery organisations, patients, regulators, and medical device manufacturers.

At the Cyber Security in Healthcare and Pharma Summit, knowledgeable speakers will join me to provide unique perspectives on this critical topic. I invite you to join us in London on 3-4 May 2018 for this important event.

All the best,

Jim Jacobson
Chief Product & Solution Security Officer, Siemens Healthineers

Register now to attend the Global Cyber Security in Healthcare & Pharma Summit.

Tags: cyber-security, healthcare, IoT, IT-Security, pharma