Medical devices are at risk of cyberattacks as a result of greater connectivity and increased digitisation in today’s modern society.
Your Lawyers, as Leading Data Leak Lawyers, continue to represent increasing numbers of victims of cyberattacks, including thousands of people engaged in group and multi-party actions. We do not see any signs of cybersecurity risks slowing down, and we expect many more hacks and cyberattacks to continue to happen over the next few years and beyond.
Whilst this article is talking about certain risks, victims who have suffered as a result of a cyberattack can be entitled to claim compensation and you can speak to our team for free, no-obligation legal advice here now.
Yes: medical devices are at risk of cyberattacks
Medical devices are at risk of cyberattacks. As healthcare has continued to become more digitised, as has much of the rest of society, it can now be possible to change and access information relating to medical devices remotely. This can allow conditions to avoid the need for additional surgery which can be invasive and come with inherent risks.
But as with all connected devices, there is always the risk of cybersecurity incidents and problems faced from hackers. Criminals want to cause as much damage as possible with their cyberattacks because that is the way in which they can make as much money as possible. If you imagine a simple scenario where hackers could hold a healthcare organisation to ransom on the threat of risking patient lives and health, you can see how an organisation may be prepared to pay the demand. Ultimately, when paying the ransom demand could save someone’s life, it can be difficult to argue in respect of the corner that an organisation could be backed into.
With increasing digitisation comes increasing risk of cyberattacks and this is something that the healthcare sector needs to be wary of, as does the government. Medical devices are at risk when it comes to cyberattacks, and this is something that should be a priority at all levels in the healthcare sector.
Increasing cyberattacks in recent years
Putting medical devices aside for a moment, there has been increasing cyberattacks in recent years anyway which is the result of a combination of factors. One, as we have touched on above, is the increasing digitisation of society, which has naturally resulted in the greater volume of cyberattacks being faced. The next is the funding issues that we have in this country in relation to our public healthcare service which has been critically underfunded and under-resourced for a number of years. Thirdly, we cannot forget the impact of the coronavirus pandemic which caused additional strain on the healthcare sector which further exacerbated the risk of cyberattacks.
With increasing risks comes the need to ensure that cybersecurity is able to meet the demands faced. This is the key challenge now faced by the NHS and, indeed, by our government.
Where people have fallen victim to cyberattacks, and information has been misused or exposed, victims can be eligible to claim compensation on a No Win, No Fee basis with our team here now.
NHS hacked in 2017: a serious incident
The NHS was hacked in 2017 as part of the WannaCry incident and this actually compromised a number of instruments used in the healthcare industry. As such, this is a real example of the impact of hacks on the NHS and it did cause delays and problems for clinicians being able to treat patients.
We must not forget how serious of an incident this one was, and we should be wary of the fact that the next huge cyberattack of its nature could be just around the corner. As we have covered above, this could cause direct issues to people where medical devices are at risk of malfunctioning or the controls being taken over as a result of a cybersecurity incident.