India Legal – July 13, 2019

| INDIA LEGAL |July 22, 2019 31

Health/ Medical Devices

EDICAL devices are

increasingly connected

to the internet, hospital

networks and other

medical instruments, to

provide features that

improve healthcare and increase the ab -

i lity of such providers to treat patients.

However, they also increase the risk

of cyber security threats. Medical

dev i ces, like other computer systems,

can be vulnerable to security breaches,

pot en tia lly impacting their safety and

effectiveness. The need for effective

cyber security to ensure medical device

functionality and safety has become

more im p ortant with the increasing use

of wireless, internet- and network-

connec ted devices, portable media (USB

or CD) and frequent electronic exchange

of medical device-related health

information.

Cyber security threats to the health-

care sector have become more frequent,

more severe and more clinically impact-

ful. Cyber security incidents have

rendered medical devices and hospital

networks inoperable, disrupting the

delivery of patient care across facilities,

in the US and globally. Such attacks can

delay diagnoses and treatment and

harm the patient.

Threats and vulnerabilities cannot be

eliminated, therefore, reducing security

risks is especially challenging. The

heathcare environment is complex, and

manufacturers, hospitals, and facilities

must work together to manage the secu-

rity risks.

And this imminent threat has now

come to the fore. India’s drug regulatory

agency, the Central Drugs Standard

Control Organisation (CDSCO), has

issued an alert about several models

Cyber Attacks: Lives at Risk

An alert by India’s drug regulatory agency about some insulin pumps posing a “cyber security

risk” shows the increasing vulnerability of medical instruments to online warfare

By Dr KK Aggarwal

M

PRONE TO DISEASE

Cyber security attacks have rendered medical

devices and hospital networks inoperable

UNI