Shodan Indicates Hospitals and Universities Have Many Vulnerable IoT Devices

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May 7, 2018 | Originally published by Date Line: May 7 on

Increasingly well-connected hospitals and doctors’ offices bring vast security challenges. A new report released Thursday shows that providers are struggling to keep up against hackers, according to cybersecurity company Trend Micro.

“As hospitals and other healthcare facilities adopt new technology, add new devices, and embrace new partnerships, patients get better and more efficient services — but the digital attack surface expands as well,” the report states.

Titled “Challenges in Securing Connected Hospitals“, Trend Micro presented findings in the report about how exposed internet-connected tools used by most health care organizations can be easily leveraged by hackers for remote attacks.

The research shows that a “surprisingly high number” of internet-connected medical systems can be found through Shodan, a popular Internet of Things scanning tool . Researchers were able to discover numerous exposed medical protocols, databases, industrial controllers and other health care systems.

Trend Micro reportedly also found 21 universities among the owners of exposed systems. Large universities are sometimes home to renowned medical facilities.

For more information see:

DICOM Communications Protocol
Shodan IoT Search Engine
FDA Cybersecurity for Medical Devices
NIST Cybersecurity Framework