National Cybersecurity Awareness Month Week Three – #BeCyberSmart when Securing Internet-Connected Devices in Healthcare (and Everywhere)

The NCSAM focus for week three is on healthcare, specifically the internet-connected devices that increasingly dominate this vital sector. Given the emphasis on patient care, it goes without saying that the personal implications of internet-connected devices in healthcare are extremely critical. From hospitals and care facilities, to telemedicine, wellness apps, and implanted medical devices, industry and consumers alike need to understand the threats and take the necessary steps to secure these vulnerable and highly targeted devices. Our colleagues at Health-ISAC (H-ISAC) provide resources to advance the cyber and physical resilience for the health sector, including best practices on medical device security.

But healthcare is not the only sector or industry to embrace internet-connected technology. Internet-connected devices (IoT) and industrial-internet-connected (IIoT) devices are embedded across a plethora of critical infrastructure sectors and organizations to improve organizational efficiency. And while efficiency is a priority, safety and security needs to be a higher (the first) priority. And don’t forget, unless you manufacture all of your own connected devices, there is a huge reliance on manufacturers. Check out the next post in WaterISAC’s 15CFAM series where we addresses internet-connected devices and securing the supply chain, including selecting devices from manufacturers that bake security into their products. Likewise, visit CISA’s NCSAM Internet Connected Devices Tip Sheet for advice on how to secure these vulnerable devices and the abundance of information they broker.