FDA issues security warning for medical IoT devices

The US Federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issued an urgent warning to patients, health care professionals and IT staff. The warning is about a set of cybersecurity vulnerabilities that pose threats to medical devices and hospital networks. The cybersecurity vulnerabilities may allow remote users to control medical Internet of things (IoT) devices to  change their functioning, cause denial of service (DoS) attacks, data leaks. According to the warning, the vulnerabilities exist in a third-party software, which are part of several operating systems (OS) and may be incorporated into other software applications, equipment, and systems. The software may be used in a wide range of medical and industrial devices. So far, the FDA has not received any reports associated with these vulnerabilities, but it urges manufacturers to determine which of their medical IoTs could be affected and develop risk mitigation plans accordingly.