Connected medical devices are transforming healthcare. From wearable glucose monitors to IoT-enabled imaging and infusion systems, these technologies provide important insights and improve patient care. However, every new healthcare IoT device connected to your network expands your attack surface—the sum of all attack entry points to your system.
That’s a problem you can’t afford to ignore.
The attack surface is the sum of every healthcare IoT or Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) device on your network, and each is a potential vulnerability. Threat actors know it, and they’re targeting these devices to steal data, disrupt operations, and compromise patient safety. Shoring up these vulnerabilities is essential to safeguarding care delivery and protecting patients.
The Scale of the Problem: Volume of Healthcare-Connected Devices
Imagine one exam room in a typical hospital. It might have a smart thermometer, a blood pressure monitor, an ECG machine, an electronic health record (EHR) terminal, and more. Now scale that to cover an entire floor, then the whole hospital. Research shows hospitals average 10 to 15 connected devices per bed. Now, add to that your operational devices like HVAC systems and imaging systems, and you will have tens of thousands of connected endpoints. These unmanaged devices clutter networks, leaving unknown vulnerabilities for exploitation.
Connected devices aren’t limited to large urban hospitals. Physicians' offices, outpatient clinics, rural and regional hospitals, and urgent care centers face IoT-related security challenges. These facilities often manage fewer devices, but resource constraints amplify their vulnerabilities. With limited IT staff and thin budgets, smaller organizations are attractive targets for opportunistic attackers. For example, a clinic might depend heavily on third-party vendors for device management, introducing additional risks if those vendors fail to prioritize security.
The Attack Surface: Common Connected Medical Devices
There are countless internet-connected devices in the typical healthcare environment. Long-term care facilities, outpatient surgery centers, and even telehealth services add to the challenge, each requiring tailored approaches to device management.
Operational technology also deserves attention. Building management system devices, like elevators and HVAC units, aren’t traditionally considered IoT devices. But, because they connect to the network, they’re equally susceptible to exploitation. Some of the most vulnerable IoT devices include:
- Internet of Medical Things (IoMT): Essential devices like ventilators, insulin pumps, and imaging systems are critical yet vulnerable without stringent safeguards.
- Patient Wearables: Personal health monitors like glucose meters and fitness trackers contribute valuable data but often lack enterprise-grade security.
- Clinical Systems: Imaging machines, lab devices, and EHR terminals manage critical workflows but can lead to widespread disruption if compromised.
- Personable Devices: Staff and patient smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches routinely connect to hospital networks, creating additional access points for attackers.
Why Each Connected Medical Device Is a Potential Vulnerability
Every internet-connected device offers a potential entry point for cyberattacks. If one device is exploited, attackers can penetrate the broader hospital network. Attackers can use vulnerabilities in connected devices like infusion pumps to jump into connected systems, steal patient data, or even meddle with critical equipment.
Consider how bad actors can move laterally from a vulnerable monitor to core systems managing patient data. Outdated medical devices and systems, like older MRIs, infusion pumps, or EHR terminals, often run on unsupported software, creating exploitable vulnerabilities. These weaknesses can allow bad actors to manipulate settings, compromise network security, access sensitive patient data, and even impact critical patient safety devices. Without proactive oversight, these vulnerabilities expose critical workflows and systems to potential breaches or shutdowns.
Preventing attacks requires collaboration across teams, from IT staff to clinical engineers. Regular threat assessments and penetration testing expose hidden weak points. Further, partnerships with security vendors provide insights into industry-specific vulnerabilities, leveraging collaborative expertise to address risks no single team could find alone.
Examples of Vulnerabilities in Connected Healthcare
- Human Error: Phishing emails, weak passwords, or poor configurations continue to open doors attackers wouldn’t otherwise access.
- Network Vulnerabilities: Poorly segmented networks allow attackers to move across networks and systems, turning a minor breach into a catastrophic one.
- Legacy Software and Outdated Devices: Aging systems running unsupported software can't receive critical updates, creating exploitable vulnerabilities. Attackers often target these weak points to access networks or disrupt devices.
- Direct Device Attacks: Hackers target firmware vulnerabilities to bypass safeguards. A compromised infusion pump, for example, could lead to manipulated dosages or network infiltration.
Why IoT Inventory Management Matters
One of healthcare organizations' biggest hurdles is the lack of visibility into the IoT devices on their networks. IoT device management is complicated by legacy systems, diverse devices, and resource constraints, making it hard to maintain an accurate inventory.
Inventory management tools give you granular visibility into these legacy systems, enabling you to pinpoint devices that pose the highest risks. For instance, a device inventory might reveal an outdated ventilator connected to a primary network. With this information, you can isolate the device through segmentation or prioritize its replacement. Identifying which devices need immediate attention empowers healthcare organizations to act strategically rather than playing a dangerous guessing game with device security.
Without comprehensive IoT visibility, vulnerabilities in connected medical devices go undetected, risks compound, and security teams are overwhelmed by blind spots. Lack of awareness opens the door to breaches.
How You Can Secure Connected Medical Devices
Reducing your attack surface starts with visibility.
First, map your healthcare IoT environment. Do you have an exhaustive list of every connected medical device, from diagnostic tools to smart thermostats? If not, this is step one. An accurate inventory reveals overlapping devices, legacy systems, and insecure connections that need attention.
Next comes prioritization. Not all devices carry the same security risks, but all contribute to the attack surface. Older devices without encryption protocols, for instance, should either be replaced, patched virtually, or segmented. Strong network segmentation ensures that the attacker can’t roam the network freely, even if one device is compromised.
Actionable policies improve IoT security over time. For example, implementing strict password practices, multi-factor authentication, and regular firmware updates adds layers of defense.
For healthcare organizations uncertain about where to start, using third-party solutions for real-time inventory tracking, behavioral monitoring, and AI-based threat detection provides a quicker way to close gaps. These tools harden the environment and create smarter pathways for long-term management.
Attack Surface Reduction is a Continuous Cycle
Reducing your attack surface isn’t a one-time activity. It’s a continuous cycle of evaluation and action. The more you understand the scope of your IoT environment and integrate purposeful solutions, the less space you leave for attackers to operate, including:
- Real-Time Discovery and Monitoring: Know every device operating in your network. Passive, agentless detection tools can locate devices without disrupting workflows, even in sensitive operating environments.
- Network Segmentation: Isolate IoMT devices so that threats can’t spread to critical systems. Segmentation ensures that if something does go wrong, you’ve contained the damage to a smaller corner of your network.
- Behavior-Based Anomaly Detection: Recognize unusual patterns. If an imaging machine starts communicating with external servers, that’s an immediate red flag. AI-powered monitoring tools can spot this quickly.
- Regulatory Alignment: Beyond security, effective inventory management ensures you’re compliant with regulations, including HIPAA in the US or GDPR in the UK. It’s one thing to secure a network; it’s even better to prove that it’s safe.
Reduce Your Vulnerabilities with Cylera
At Cylera, we simplify healthcare IoT security with a platform designed to provide comprehensive visibility and protection for healthcare organizations. Our agentless, passive technology automatically discovers and profiles every connected device accurately, detailing everything from make and model to firmware vulnerabilities and usage patterns.
With real-time monitoring and advanced anomaly detection, our platform identifies unusual behaviors early and prioritizes critical threats using machine learning insights, enabling swift and effective action.
[Image of the Cylera platform in action]
Cylera supports zero-trust principles to help enable precise network segmentation policies to enhance security further, containing risks and minimizing lateral movement of threats. Our platform streamlines compliance efforts by centralizing data on vulnerabilities, risk assessments, and remediation activities, ensuring audit readiness and reducing the complexity of regulatory processes.
By partnering with Cylera, you get robust defenses you can rely on, so you can focus on delivering exceptional patient care.
Key Takeaways
- The IoT attack surface in healthcare is growing as connectivity becomes widespread.
- Organizations face growing risks from unmanaged healthcare and connected medical devices without consistent visibility.
The IoT attack surface in healthcare will only grow larger as hospitals rely on more connected devices. Without visibility, every added device is another vulnerability. However, with the right tools and partners, you can regain control.
Every device matters. Partner with Cylera to protect what matters most.
