Healthcare IoT security addresses the protection of connected medical devices, clinical systems, and healthcare facility infrastructure that increasingly depend on network connectivity for patient care, monitoring, and data exchange. The healthcare IoT ecosystem includes infusion pumps, patient monitors, imaging systems, surgical robots, building automation, and thousands of other connected devices operating in environments where cybersecurity failures can directly impact patient safety.
Healthcare facilities deploy an average of 10-15 connected devices per patient bed, creating dense IoT environments with diverse technology profiles. Medical devices often run embedded operating systems that cannot be easily patched, use proprietary protocols that lack encryption, and require network connectivity for clinical workflows. Security challenges include device inventory gaps where organizations cannot accurately identify all connected devices, legacy devices with known vulnerabilities that manufacturers no longer support, FDA-regulated devices where modifications require re-certification, flat network architectures where medical devices share networks with general IT systems, and limited security monitoring capabilities for medical device protocols. Attack vectors include exploiting unpatched device vulnerabilities to gain network access, manipulating device firmware to alter clinical readings, ransomware targeting clinical systems during patient care, and lateral movement through medical devices to reach electronic health records.
Healthcare ransomware attacks have been linked to increased patient mortality through delayed care and diverted ambulances. Compromised medical devices can provide false readings affecting clinical decisions, deliver incorrect medication dosages, or serve as entry points to networks containing protected health information. HIPAA, FDA guidance, and NIST healthcare frameworks mandate security controls, but implementation is complicated by device diversity, clinical workflow requirements, and resource constraints. The expanding attack surface from telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and AI-assisted diagnostics adds new risk categories annually.
CDA addresses healthcare IoT through missions spanning Vulnerability and Surface Defense for device hardening and Security Posture and Hygiene for network architecture. Our approach respects clinical workflow requirements and patient safety constraints, building security controls that protect without disrupting the care delivery that these devices support.