AAMIBlog

Hey, Information Security, how’s it going? You may remember me, Bob in IT. Thanks for meeting me over coffee. Did you order already? I did, too. While we’re waiting for them to bring it out, let me tell you about the conversation I had with our biomed colleagues. They heard about the recent WannaCry ransomware […]

Hey, biomed! It’s me, Bob in IT. I’m from the networking team. I know we haven’t spoken much, but I think we should. You see, we’ve got some problems we need to solve. I have ideas on what to do, but I don’t totally understand your systems, so I need your input. Let’s take security […]

We’ve seen unprecedented attention to medical-device security after an unorthodox report was recently released by short-selling investment research firm Muddy Waters Capital and MedSec, which alleged security vulnerabilities in St. Jude Medical’s pacemakers. An independent research team subsequently raised doubts about some of the clinical claims made by the report. St. Jude Medical, meanwhile, has […]

AAMI has been trying to collect examples of real-life systems issues involving healthcare technology to help our community better address the increasingly complex challenges of modern healthcare. It has been incredibly difficult to collect such examples, much more difficult than we had ever imagined. At first, we thought it was because subject experts were just […]

In the context of its authority over mammography under the Mammography Quality Standards Act, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has posted an advisory on technical aspects of digital record retention in picture archiving and communication systems or PACS. The primary issue addressed is loss of data due to failure of the equipment. This problem […]

Another set of health information is compromised, another medical device unexpectedly reboots, another set of patient data results is mixed up, another device fails to perform as intended. News stories bring us reports of medical device failures, and increasingly, failures appear to be related to software quality. Use of software in healthcare continues to grow. […]

The focus of healthcare information technology during the past few years has been on the rollout of new electronic health records and the demands of meeting government-mandated meaningful use. Many of these applications and other devices are dependent on an extensive, secure Wi-Fi network. Having a Wi-Fi network throughout their healthcare facilities has allowed organizations […]

With federal rules such as HIPAA governing patient privacy (and imposing fines if they are violated), regular malware occurrences and the constant threat of breaches, the security of IT-based medical devices has become very important. One security measure that is sometimes overlooked is computer system software updates. The primary problem with the routine updating of […]

On June 14, the FDA issued two documents on cybersecurity. One was a draft guidance for manufactures on what they should consider as part of their design process, and what would be recommended to be provided to the FDA as part of a 510(k), PMA, or related before market submission. Although aimed at manufacturers, this draft […]

Greek mythology tells the tale of Sisyphus, king of Ephyra–a ruthless, cunning leader who often got the best of the Greek gods. Zeus punished Sisyphus for his hubris with the insidious task of eternally pushing a boulder up a hill, but never allowing him to get it to the top. Often, we are told that […]