(EMAILWIRE.COM, November 11, 2012 ) Victoria, Australia- Health and security experts have issued warnings in the light of virus and malware attacks to high-risk medical technology. The warnings were reported by the Technology Review of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and released as part of a panel discussion in Washington, D.C.
Outdated computer systems which were not able to be upgraded were to blame. Upgrading old software on medical devices can be difficult because of regulatory restrictions. The machines were not updated as doing so might have breached of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, said Kevin Fu, a leading expert in medical technology. The FDA approves technology use by testing safety rather than security, resulting in no consideration for potential exposure to cyber threats.
One U.S. hospital reported deleting viruses from one-to-two machines weekly. The fear exist that the virus infections could have a severe negative impact on patient care and cause harm.
Lack of software upgrades directly affect medical equipment. According to Mark Olsen, chief information security officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, 664 pieces of hospital medical equipment functioned on old versions of Windows. The vulnerability to viruses and malware is evident that later releases of Windows would have addressed and fixed.
Medical Technology expert Ken Fu told Technology Review that the situation is "mind-boggling." "Conventional malware is rampant in hospitals because of medical devices using unpatched operating systems. There is little recourse for hospitals when a manufacturer refuses to allow [operating system] updates or security patches."
He further expressed his worries concerning the slow performance of medical devices due to infection. "Imagine you have a heart monitor that's running Windows and it gets infected by a computer virus and slows down. This mere slowing down of the computer could cause the device to miss a sensor reading. It certainly raises an eyebrow. Who's watching out for that?"
The panel agreed that compromised medical devices could become a part of botnets - large networks of hacked computers used to send spam email. There is currently no evidence of this, but health and medical experts are on alert.
Software has greatly benefited medicine, but there are still software risks. These types of challenges are also being experienced in the UK by the NHS. In 2008, a Channel 4 investigation revealed 8,000 NHS computers had been infected.
Raj Samani, chief technology officer for security specialists McAfee, reiterated, "The need to implement security and privacy at the design of all systems, whether they're embedded or not is of paramount importance, particularly to the health industry."
About TechSeek.com.au:
TechSeek.com.au (http://techseek.com.au) specializes in mobile onsite computer repairs in Melbourne. The company offers efficient and fast remote customer support, eliminating the hassle of transporting a computer to get it repaired. Labour cost capping is also offered for residential computer repair services at the Tech Seek website.
Marvin Sean Pena
0418 950 469
news@postpressrelease.com
Source: EmailWire.Com![]()
Outdated computer systems which were not able to be upgraded were to blame. Upgrading old software on medical devices can be difficult because of regulatory restrictions. The machines were not updated as doing so might have breached of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, said Kevin Fu, a leading expert in medical technology. The FDA approves technology use by testing safety rather than security, resulting in no consideration for potential exposure to cyber threats.
One U.S. hospital reported deleting viruses from one-to-two machines weekly. The fear exist that the virus infections could have a severe negative impact on patient care and cause harm.
Lack of software upgrades directly affect medical equipment. According to Mark Olsen, chief information security officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, 664 pieces of hospital medical equipment functioned on old versions of Windows. The vulnerability to viruses and malware is evident that later releases of Windows would have addressed and fixed.
Medical Technology expert Ken Fu told Technology Review that the situation is "mind-boggling." "Conventional malware is rampant in hospitals because of medical devices using unpatched operating systems. There is little recourse for hospitals when a manufacturer refuses to allow [operating system] updates or security patches."
He further expressed his worries concerning the slow performance of medical devices due to infection. "Imagine you have a heart monitor that's running Windows and it gets infected by a computer virus and slows down. This mere slowing down of the computer could cause the device to miss a sensor reading. It certainly raises an eyebrow. Who's watching out for that?"
The panel agreed that compromised medical devices could become a part of botnets - large networks of hacked computers used to send spam email. There is currently no evidence of this, but health and medical experts are on alert.
Software has greatly benefited medicine, but there are still software risks. These types of challenges are also being experienced in the UK by the NHS. In 2008, a Channel 4 investigation revealed 8,000 NHS computers had been infected.
Raj Samani, chief technology officer for security specialists McAfee, reiterated, "The need to implement security and privacy at the design of all systems, whether they're embedded or not is of paramount importance, particularly to the health industry."
About TechSeek.com.au:
TechSeek.com.au (http://techseek.com.au) specializes in mobile onsite computer repairs in Melbourne. The company offers efficient and fast remote customer support, eliminating the hassle of transporting a computer to get it repaired. Labour cost capping is also offered for residential computer repair services at the Tech Seek website.
Marvin Sean Pena
0418 950 469
news@postpressrelease.com
Source: EmailWire.Com
