For Immediate Release
DHS Science & Technology Press Office
Contact: John Verrico, (202) 254-2385
WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) awarded $1.8 million to the Medical Device Innovation, Safety and Security (MDISS) Consortium based in the Bronx, New York, for the development of technology that can help defend medical devices from cyberattacks. The project titled “Medical Device Risk Assessment Platform” was awarded through Broad Agency Announcement HSHQDC-14-R- B00016 and is part of the DHS S&T Cyber Security Division’s larger Cyber Physical Systems Security (CPSSEC) program. The MDISS Consortium is a public and private non-profit partnership, representing hospitals, medical device manufacturers, technology companies, and research entities.
“We can no longer think of medical devices solely as instruments for patient care, but rather as networked systems, and as such, potentially vulnerable to cyber attacks,” said DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology Dr. Reginald Brothers. “S&T is working to improve medical device security and help mitigate this threat.”
Advances in networking, computing, sensing, and control systems have enabled a broad range of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) devices, including modern vehicles, medical devices, building controls, the smart power grid, and the Internet of Things. Driven by functional requirements and fast moving markets, these systems are being designed and deployed quickly. The design choices being made today will directly impact our nation’s industries and critical infrastructure sectors over the next several decades. S&T’s Cyber Security Division (CSD) recently launched the CPSSEC project that aims to “build security into” the emerging CPS designs.
“Today’s patients and medical practitioners benefit greatly from the enhanced connectivity of modern medical devices,” said Dr. Dan Massey, S&T CPSSEC Program Manager. “This project will leverage cross-functional teams of medical and cyber experts to improve the security of these devices.”
The MDISS Consortium team, led by Dr. Dale Nordenberg, proposes to build a Medical Device Risk Assessment Platform to develop a safe and secure national biomedical device network and an automated medical device risk management framework to integrate security in all phases of the device life cycle.
For more information, visit scitech.dhs.gov/cyber-research, or email SandT-Cyber-Liaison@hq.dhs.gov.
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