TRIMEDX, an industry-leading, technology-enabled provider of clinical engineering, medical device cybersecurity, and clinical asset management solutions, announced a collaboration with Indiana University Health to develop a cybersecurity lab to test medical device security and reduce device security threats as part of the product development process.
The existence of cutting-edge TRIMEDX technology combined with the Medical Device Security Lab at IU Health brings new opportunities for healthcare professionals and the cybersecurity industry. Such innovative technology is not readily available to most health systems, and TRIMEDX hopes to extend the research to others over time.
“The increase in threats and vulnerabilities is exactly why this collaboration is so important,” says Nick Sturgeon, executive director of information security at Indiana University Health. “The collaboration will allow us to be at the forefront of innovation and to continue to protect the health and security of patients.”
Industry-wide, healthcare cybersecurity breaches hit an all-time high in 2021, making the importance of cybersecurity around medical devices even more crucial. In addition, 68% of medical devices are projected to be connected devices by 2025. The security of connected medical devices has never been more critical. This Medical Device Security Lab allows the testing of the healthcare system’s medical devices for vulnerabilities and interoperability.
“Mitigating cybersecurity threats is vital to protecting patient safety and data,” says Sturgeon. “The cutting-edge device testing lab enhances the ability to remediate vulnerabilities before equipment reaches the patient floor.”
The lab will perform enterprise security testing on medical equipment in an environment that poses no risk to patients. It also will enhance TRIMEDX’s unmatched approach toward medical device cybersecurity and innovation in the industry with three headlining objectives:
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Testing of net-new devices in advance of them being implemented in the hospital.
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Testing of configurations and security setups to discover what services need to be turned on and what ports need to be available on the network.
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Active scanning of equipment specific to security testing with no live network or risk of patient impact.
“We expect that this Medical Device Security Lab will pave the way in creating a space for devices to be tested before usage and begin to flag common security issues prior to the implementation of the devices in a healthcare setting,” says Doug Folsom, TRIMEDX chief technology officer and president of cybersecurity. “The intent is to see an overall decrease in device security threats and eventually make this research open and available to many more organizations.”
