Medigate launches medical device security platform to counter escalating cyber risk
Technology delivers complete visibility into devices and risks, detects anomalies, and actively blocks malicious activities
Medigate has announced the launch of its dedicated medical device security platform for healthcare providers, the industry’s first and only solution to secure medical devices that are connected to electronic medical records, enterprise networks and servers, and the internet.
The cloud-based security platform empowers healthcare IT and security teams to protect enterprises, securing data and safeguarding patient safety and privacy from malware, ransomware, and other advanced cyber attacks targeting networked medical devices.
Medigate’s security platform prevents intrusions and instills confidence in the privacy and safety of medical relationships
Medigate provides three capabilities essential for effective IT security: visibility into all network connected devices, detection of potential threats, and automated prevention of attacks. These capabilities are specifically designed for the healthcare industry, differentiating Medigate from other solutions.
“We’ve seen a rise in cyber attacks targeting the healthcare sector in recent years due to vulnerabilities within medical device networks,” said Jonathan Langer, co-founder and chief executive of Medigate.
“This creates a critical exposure within the patient-provider information flow, and can even affect the quality of patient care.
“We’ve built a security platform to tightly protect this patient-provider data so that both parties can rely on the accuracy of critical treatment plans and confidentiality of their personal and private information.”
In recent years cyber attacks have become increasingly sophisticated.
Not surprisingly, the increasing frequency and sophistication of these attacks has led to a greater demand for effective network security among providers.
In fact, a 2017 HIMSS cyber security survey reported that chief information officers named network security as the leading IT priority for improvement, ranking ahead of other IT issues like patient safety and improved work processes.
“In addition to triggering a host of network disturbances, data breaches pose a serious risk to patient safety, as attacks can lead to clinical errors, such as incorrect dosing and misdiagnoses of diseases,” said Langer.
“Medigate’s security platform prevents intrusions and instills confidence in the privacy and safety of medical relationships.”
Medical devices, in particular, present a unique challenge for IT security, as seamless patching is not possible due to the technical difficulty and high costs of staying current.
These challenges are exacerbated by complex regulations, which have been implemented with patient safety in mind due to the mission critical nature of these devices.
In addition to triggering a host of network disturbances, data breaches pose a serious risk to patient safety, as attacks can lead to clinical errors, such as incorrect dosing and misdiagnoses of diseases
An unintended consequence of these regulations, however, is that device software cannot be readily updated as new threats to their embedded systems are identified, making medical equipment even more vulnerable to a data breach.
Medigate is the first and only platform dedicated to solving this problem with unique capabilities designed specifically for the healthcare industry. These include:
- Automated medical device discovery and identification explores and maps all network-connected medical devices and fingerprints each make and model. This provides complete visibility and the capability to distinguish between legitimate and unauthorised devices
- Analysis of unique medical device communication protocols combines network monitoring through the security platform, advanced deep packet inspection (DPI) and an understanding of industry-specific protocols like Dicom and HL7 to detect anomalies that are likely to represent malware and intrusion attempts, with a low level of false positives
- Automated prevention of attacks pre-emptively blocks malicious malware through automated micro-segmentation capabilities enforced by the platform through the real-time blocking of data
“With Medigate, medical providers can now create an impenetrable line of defense between endpoints, ensuring secure and connected care with decreased risk of breach in the reality of today’s widespread pandemic cybersecurity threat,” said Langer.
