COVID-19 pandemic ratchets up threats to medical IoT
The mere fact of the COVID pandemic’s existence has pushed the American healthcare system to capacity, but another threat to that system has reared its ugly head – cyberattacks, particularly those based on ransomware, have become more common as the disease spread, targeting medical IoT devices and healthcare networks.
According to Forrester Research analyst Chris Sherman, two U.S. hospitals have already been attacked via virtual care systems, after a hacker targeted a vulnerability in a medical IoT device (specifically, a remote patient-monitoring sensor) and gained access to the hospitals’ patient databases. And in another type of attack, the Fresenius Group, a medical device maker and the largest private hospital operator in Europe, has been hit by ransomware.