Analyzing medical device connectivity and its effect on cyber security in german hospitals.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Modern healthcare devices can be connected to computer networks and many western healthcare institutions run those devices in networks. At the same time, cyber attacks are on the rise and there is evidence that cybercriminals do not spare critical infrastructure such as major hospitals, even if they endanger patients. Intuitively, the more and closer connected healthcare devices are to public networks, the higher the risk of getting attacked.

Methods

To asses the current connectivity status of healthcare devices, we surveyed the field of German hospitals and especially University Medical Center UMCs.

Results

The results show a strong correlation between the networking degree and the number of medical devices. The average number of medical devices is 25.150,

SUBMITTER: Willing M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7526356 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature