Investing in Cyber Security of Connected Health

Connected Health is a rapidly growing area with huge innovative possibilities and potential. This is mostly due to the uptake of digital technologies in the health and medical fields that support diagnosis, treatment and management of health conditions.

It is however crucially important that security of Connected Health products, systems and services is baked in by design. The health context also demands its own consideration of security risks and implications. Security research in Connected Health also needs to be done responsibly - fear mongering in this space could reduce public trust and uptake of potentially lifesaving and life-changing technologies.

Generally, existing security research in the connected health industry seems to be focused on three key areas: implantable medical devices, security of equipment and networks in hospitals and methods by which implantable devices can be defended while still remaining accessible to medical staff in an emergency. Connected Health however is a much broader and varied topic, with many potentially interesting application areas such as personal health care through connected devices, age-related health care and mental health.

Although purely technical solutions are of vital importance in Connected Health security, enforcing secure solutions or making security a priority will be difficult without agreed standards throughout the industry and government legislation.

We explore the Connected Health landscape and present the security challenges and considerations required to deliver an ecosystem that works for all in a secure and safe way in our whitepaper, "Connected Health:
Security Landscape Review."