What are the dangers of ignoring cybersecurity vulnerabilities?

Doctors take a hippocratic oath, so why is medical technology not subject to similar ethical standards when medical devices and healthcare IoT are so instrumental to delivering patient care? 

This becomes an egregious oversight when you consider that healthcare and medical devices in particular are especially vulnerable to cyber attack. It must seem contradictory then, that healthcare cybersecurity is in critical condition. Hospitals across the industry lack any sort of cybersecurity expert or personnel on staff, and are still using legacy equipment that is unsupported and incredibly vulnerable. A single compromised device can bring down the entire network of connected devices, from life support systems to basic building HVAC and elevator systems. 

This is not theory and speculation, or cybersecurity geeks trying to pump fear, uncertainly, and doubt into an unsuspecting audience. This is professional physicians trying their best to treat a patient in crisis while dealing with a hacked medical instrument. What's alarming is that it could easily happen to you, your spouse, your child, or a close friend. Just look at the WannaCry incident, hospitals across the U.K. were shut down and lives were lost as a direct result of a cyber-attack. 

Join active physicians, Doctors Christian Dameff and Jeff Tully from the University of California Health System, on stage for a live presentation at the RSA Security Conference with Josh Corman from "I Am The Cavalry." The demonstration shows what can happen when a device attached to an ER patient is hacked, and how that patient is placed in danger by the failure of a critical medical device.

Presenters:

• Dr. Christian Dameff, MD, Emergency Physician and Clinical Informatics Fellow, University of California, San Diego
• Dr. Jeff Tully, MD, Anesthesiologist and Pediatrician, University of California Davis
• Josh Corman, CSO/Founder, PTC / I am The Cavalry

This video demonstration starts at 0:30 and runs for approximately 45 minutes. If you are new to healthcare cybersecurity it may well be the most important 44 and half minutes of your life!

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