As Cyberattacks On Hospitals Rise, Medical Devices Are Particularly Vulnerable

Congress has launched an inquiry into 23andMe amid privacy concerns following its bankruptcy, particularly regarding the potential sale of sensitive user data. Additionally, a Cybernews report gave 40 DNA testing firms an average cybersecurity grade of D, citing widespread vulnerabilities and data breaches, along with inadequate public information about their security practices.

AI systems used in healthcare are vulnerable to adversarial cyberattacks, which are a growing concern, said Atif Azad, a professor of AI at Birmingham City University. Azad’s research group has developed a method that trains AI to become more resilient to cyber threats through the use of random image adjustments.

Enovis has named veteran medtech leader Damien McDonald as its new CEO effective 12 May as the orthopedic company reaffirms first-quarter 2025 revenue guidance of between $555m and $563m. Medtech Insight spoke with Tim Czartoski, Enovis’ president of US surgical and global product and enabling technologies, about the firm’s growth strategy and innovation plans.

In this week’s Digital Health Roundup, Medtech Insight’s Marion Webb highlights her conference coverage from CES, HIMSS, AAOS and LSI including Exec Chats with Gary Guthart, CEO of Intuitive Surgical, and Arcadia’s chief strategy officer Aneesh Chopra. Brian Bossetta highlights a recently FDA-cleared alert system that sends vital signs to clinicians. Elizabeth Orr discusses FDA warning letters sent to Exer Labs for exceeding marketing claims under what is allowed under the device’s 510(k) clearance. Shubham Singh discusses how Roche's unveiling of its next-generation sequencing (NGS) prototype challenges Illumina. The SBX technology is set to compete directly with Illumina’s NovaSeq and NextSeq platforms.