Today’s monitoring systems in hospitals have allowed for more connectivity between the network and medical devices as patient data can be transferred through mobile devices. Many of these devices are also dependent on on-the-shelf operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, which are vulnerable to a variety of threats such as malwares and viruses. These attacks can disrupt the operation of medical devices and destroy the integrity of information.
Healthcare organizations should consider key steps when devising plans for cybersecurity risk management. First is to identify key stakeholders in a facility and define the distribution of cybersecurity duties among personnel. The development of an IT department that can manage the hospital network infrastructure is vital as medical devices have advanced integration that needs to be safeguarded. Other departments should also be established such as risk management and safety committees.
There are common mechanisms that can safeguard a facility’s network such as a VLAN which can limit communication with the main network. Of course, updated antimalware systems can also help to detect and quarantine threats in a network.
