health and wellness Archives

health and wellness

FDA Seeks Collaboration on Medical Device Security

September 24, 2014 Paul Roberts

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday put out a call for ideas and input on how best to secure medical devices and the healthcare system from cyber attack. In a federal notice, the FDA announced that it will hold an October workshop entitled “Collaborative Approaches for Medical Device and Healthcare Cybersecurity.” It also solicited input from stakeholders within the government and from the public health sector on medical device and healthcare cyber security. The workshop is scheduled for October 21 and 22 and will run from 9:00 AM to 5:00PM at the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center Auditorium in Arlington, Virginia. [Read more Security Ledger coverage of connected medical devices here.] The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is looking for ideas about how best to implement aspects of both Executive Order 13636 for“Improving Critical Infrastructure” and follow-on guidance like the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) “Framework for Improving […]

Consumers Embrace IoT And Wearables, Worry About Security Consequences

September 16, 2014 Paul Roberts

A new survey of consumer attitudes and expectations about technology finds that a strong majority of Americans expect wearable technology and biometric security to be common within the next decade. The survey, sponsored by the security company McAfee, asked 1,500 U.S. consumers about lifestyle and technology trends in the home and workplace. The results suggest that consumers are already adjusting their expectations about the future to include pervasive connectivity, a wealth of intelligent devices – and some of the problems that come with both. More than 60% of those surveyed by McAfee said they anticipate having connected appliances like refrigerators that will “automatically add food to a running grocery list if the product is running low.” A strong majority of those polled – 84% – said they were convinced their home security systems will be connected to their mobile device. “As technology, especially the Internet of Things, continues to rapidly advance and […]

Apple’s Platform for Wellness Arrives | Life as a Healthcare CIO

September 10, 2014 Paul Roberts

John Halamka, the CIO of Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center in Boston has an interesting post on his blog about Apple’s big unveiling yesterday and its implications for connected health applications. With the image of naked Jennifer Lawrence still fresh in our minds, Halamka points out that Apple is taking steps to make sure no such slip-ups happen in the context of protected health information – a promising new market for wearable technology. As Halamka sees it, we’re on the cusp of revolution that will see the consumerization of what he calls “healthcare middleware.” That refers to software and services, like Apple’s recently announced HealthKit, that aggregates data about your body from multiple sensors in your clothing, your body and environment. Unlike the nude selfies that recently made the rounds online, however, health data is protected by Federal legislation – HIPAA. For that reason, Apple keeps that data local to the mobile […]

Exploding Gas Tanks: Risk, Liability and Internet of Things

September 5, 2014 Paul Roberts

We like to construct Hollywood friendly plots around a lot of the seminal moments in our collective history. For Civil Rights, we like to picture the integration of Little Rock High School, Rosa Parks’ courageous protest on a Montgomery bus or the March on Washington. For environmentalism, we talk about Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring or, maybe, the burning Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. (This vintage news footage of the 1969 fire calls it the fire that “sparked the environmental movement” without any apparent irony.) For automobile safety, we imagine Ralph Nader and the image of a 1972 crash test that shows the gas tank of the Ford Pinto exploding in a rear impact collision, engulfing both cars in flames. But those memories are often way oversimplified. Little Rock and the Montgomery bus boycott were just two battles in a fight for civil rights that went back to the end of the Civil War. Likewise, the Cuyahoga […]

Report: Hospital network hacked, 4.5 million records stolen

August 19, 2014 Paul Roberts

News today that Community Health Systems, a national hospital network that operates 206 hospitals across the United States, was the victim of a cyber attack that resulted in the theft of 4.5 million patients. According to CNN Money, hackers gained access to patient names, Social Security numbers, physical addresses, birthdays and telephone numbers. The breach affects anyone who received treatment from a physician’s office tied to a Community Health Systems network-owned hospital in the last five years. The FBI is investigating the breach. Community Health Systems’ hospitals operate in 28 states but have their most significant presence in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. Help Net Security has a panel of experts comment. The consensus is that the healthcare sector is more in the cross hairs for sophisticated attacks that are intended to steal personal information that can be used for identity theft scams. Read more over at CNN Money: Hospital network hacked, 4.5 million […]