The rising security threat in the MedTech industry: What your business can do about it

As a MedTech company, your shift from analogue-based systems to digital platforms opens up several opportunities for growth. However, these innovations also expose you to various risks like cyber attacks. With more data stored and processed on older digital platforms, new risks appear.

Older digital platforms and the underlying IT-systems may lack the latest security patches and not following current best security practices may introduce vulnerabilities that makes them easier targets for cyberattacks. Additionally, older IT-systems may not support advanced encryption protocols or other modern security features. This was highlighted in a recent report that found ransomware attacks in the healthcare sector jumped by a staggering 328%. Statistics like these highlights the need for MedTech companies to take cyber threats seriously.

In this blog, we take a look into the common security challenges you face and offer practical solutions to tackle them. We'll also share insights from Per Samuelsen, our MedTech industry and cybersecurity expert at Columbus.

Current state of cybersecurity in the MedTech industry

Cybersecurity compliance in general is a key element in the MedTech industry. For example, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandates that your company demonstrate control over access management to stay compliant with this cornerstone within cybersecurity. Managing account permissions based on employee lifecycle -joiners, movers, and leavers-tends to be disconnected and a manual process, leading to inefficiencies and major security risks of not complying to the principle of least privilege. Long-term employees often accumulate privileges over time, making them attractive targets for attackers.

"An often manual and disjointed process not only impacts the company's cybersecurity but also regulatory compliance. If an employee's access needs to be recertified, it doesn't automatically update operationally after recertification. Someone has to manually adjust accesses, which is inefficient, error-prone and can result in a non-conformity and a risk of compromise of the not needed privileges," Per notes.

Navigating various regional regulations adds another level of complexity. For example, European companies must comply with the NIS2 regulation, coming into law during the year focusing on security requirements for national critical infrastructure. The NIS2 Directive aims to tighten up security requirements, streamline reporting, and enforce stricter supervisory measures.

"Even if companies are not a directly part of critical infrastructure, but supplying these sectors or holding a monopoly on their production also need to comply with NIS2 due to supply chain responsibilities," Samuelsen adds.

Many MedTech companies, perhaps including yours, recognize the necessity of these cybersecurity counter measures but falter in execution. This is because they often treat the implementation project just as an IT project without involving business departments, without talking business benefits and leading to a lack of comprehensive understanding and buy-in. "It's difficult for people to grasp the importance of particular tools and rules around them if they haven't been involved from the start and understands why we are doing it," explains Samuelsen.

As your company grows quickly both organically and through M&A maintaining robust security measures that scale with your expansion can become challenging, leading to vulnerabilities. "Many MedTech companies expand rapidly, and the security solutions they started with may become inadequate, causing growing pains. They need scalable solutions to meet future demands, stay compliant, and boost operational efficiency," Per adds. He emphasizes the importance of implementing the right tools in a risk based approach from the very beginning instead of having to redo everything later.

How the MedTech industry can respond

There are several ways your company can be attacked, and the consequences of an attack are well documented. By adopting a comprehensive, continuous approach to cyber security, you can make your company more resilient against cyber threats.

Adopt robust identity security

Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutionsare essential in managing user identities, assigning the right access levels, and monitoring activities to prevent unauthorized access, data breaches, and compliance issues. This is especially important in your industry, where handling sensitive personal information, proprietary research data, and meeting regulatory requirements is critical.

IAM solutions also help manage user identities throughout their lifecycle-from joiners to leavers, and those moving between roles during employment or as a contractor. This prevents users from accumulating unnecessary access rights, which can lead to security vulnerabilities.

There are also security add-ons enhancements to IAM systems that run in the background, creating risk models and monitoring services for accounts and user behaviour.
By automatically mapping how each employee works, you can detect and respond to unusual work patterns. This also allows for conditional access, letting you decide where employees shouldn't log in. This is all a valuable piece in the organisations cyber security counter measure.

It's not just your internal systems that need attention; you also need to make sure your third-party vendors and partners are following strict cybersecurity standards and have strong access management in place. "Several attacks come through vendors, so ensuring they have robust protection is essential," Samuelsen notes.

This means conducting assessments and audits of your partners' security practices to ensure they meet industry standards is crucial for protecting your organisation. It's critical to verify that they employ up-to-date encryption methods, regularly update their systems, and have comprehensive business continuity and incident response plans.

Your company can go a step further with identity governance and administration (IGA),which can automate access, so employees get the right level of access at the right time. This reduces manual administration while streamlining processes and governing and detecting access risks.

Samuelsen highlights a company he's been working with that faced compliance issues and how IAM and IGA is now helping them: "We're doing an IAM assessment for a global vaccines company, defining their future setup, which will likely involve three different technologies: identity governance and administration (IGA), access management, and privileged access management. This setup will help them meet compliance demands, raise efficiency, and scale effectively."

Beyond IAM: Key cybersecurity considerations for MedTech companies

While IAM is a cornerstone of cybersecurity in the MedTech industry, there are several other areas that you must address to ensure comprehensive protection:

1. Implement comprehensive endpoint security:Secure medical devices with comprehensive endpoint security measures, including regular updates, patch management, and real-time threat monitoring
2. Secure network infrastructure:Deploy firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and secure communication protocols while conducting regular network audits and vulnerability assessments
3. Encrypt sensitive data:Protect sensitive patient data by using strong encryption, both when it's at rest and in transit
4. Establish an incident response plan:Develop and regularly update an incident response plan with protocols for detecting, reporting, and responding to security incidents
5. Train and educate employees on cybersecurity:Regularly train employees on cybersecurity best practices, phishing scams, and safe handling of sensitive information to reduce human error risks
6. Enhance security for connected medical devices: Ensure that connected medical devices are regularly updated, patched, and to integrate them into the broader cybersecurity strategy to mitigate risks. Per Samuelsen explains, "Traditionally, IT infrastructure was separate from operational technology (OT). But now IoT devices and medical devices are merging into regular networks, requiring more robust internet protection"
7. Monitor continuously and use threat intelligence:Implement continuous monitoring and leverage threat intelligence with advanced analytics and machine learning to detect and act on potential threats in real-time
   

Take a holistic view - technology, people, and processes

As Per Samuelsen mentions earlier, one common pitfall most companies face with their cybersecurity solutions is treating initiatives like IAM as just an IT project - not a business or transformation project. This narrow focus misses the bigger picture and the importance of IAM and cybersecurity across the entire organization.

To successfully implement IAM, you need a holistic, business-centric approach that covers technology, people, and processes. Without integrating these three elements, businesses are "bound to fail," says Per Samuelsen.

"I remember our first meeting with a customer who was looking at their IAM assessment purely from an IT perspective. We advised them to take a different approach to identity and access management so they could achieve the results and value they wanted. We explained that it's not just about the tech; it's also about the people and processes, especially when it comes to compliance."

By involving key stakeholders from various departments like HR, legal, compliance, and finance right from the beginning, you can ensure your IAM project meets the diverse needs of the organization and gains broad support. When everyone understands how IAM improves their workflows and protects their data, they're more likely to support and use it. This holistic view turns IAM from just a technical project into a strategic business enabler, offering strong protection and facilitating growth.

Understand your next steps with a comprehensive security assessment

Every business has unique security needs and vulnerabilities. By taking the time to do a risk assessment, you can determine the best possible steps to enhance your security.

A risk assessment from Columbus offers your company an executive summary of results and recommendations, detailed documentation with technical insights, tailored discussions on current implementations versus best practices, and a clear remediation plan with heatmaps that highlight both quick wins and strategic initiatives.

"Not only can we assist MedTech companies with IAM, but we can also evaluate their current status and create a roadmap for achieving improved cybersecurity and compliance," says Samuelsen. "We offer comprehensive security monitoring that oversees your entire IT infrastructure. We establish the governance and processes, allowing you to efficiently manage the monitoring and incident responses."

For example, we can help in conducting a cybersecurity GAP analysis, identifying areas where your current security measures may be lacking, and recommending solutions to bridge these gaps.

Compliance requirements are critical for MedTech companies, and we help you navigate these complex regulations. We can perform assessments for NIS2, FDA, HIPAA, SOX, GDPR, and ISO27001, ensuring that your organization meets all necessary standards.

If you'd like more information on how we can help with your cybersecurity needs, contact us below.

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