Medical Advisories as Deterrents in Healthcare Cybercrime

The use of Industrial Control Systems in healthcare offers several advantages in terms of ease of use, ease of access, remote configurability, and scalability across networks. However, medical ICS systems also pose significant risks in terms of an increased attack surface that could result in leakage of personally identifiable information, personal health information, and in extreme cases, malicious exploitation of devices and networks resulting in injury or death. This paper analyzes the entire dataset of ICS medical advisories published by the CISA, and covers a range of medical devices and systems. Our analysis of CISA’s dataset of ICS medical advisories points to the evolution of complexity in the cybercrime threats confronting healthcare systems, as well as complexity in the networked environments within which healthcare operates.