Cyber Safety in Connected Healthcare – Lessons for a 4.0 World

The Internet of Things (IoT) offers unique opportunities for health management. Health-related IoT technologies range from wearable sensors for purposes of assisted living to radio-controlled implantable cardiac pacemakers which support patients with heart diseases. These interconnected systems are expected to play an important role in national healthcare systems and are, for example, tools to deal with an increasingly ageing population. In spite of their potential benefits, connected healthcare devices create new safety and security risks, raising a pressing demand for regulatory and non-regulatory interventions.

The convergence of safety and security, as seen in connected healthcare applications, was the topic of a panel at this year’s “Digital Society Conference” in Berlin. Dr Leonie Maria Tanczer from the PETRAS Standards, Governance and Policy research team was invited to speak about potential governance mechanisms and discussed issues such as the need for pre-market and post-market surveillance, certification frameworks as currently proposed by the European Union, and overarching guidelines for manufacturers, regulators, and operators.

Fellow panelists included:

• Isabel Skierka, Researcher, DSI
• Beau Woods, Atlantic Council / I am the Cavalry
• Dr Hans-Martin von Stockhausen, Siemens Healthineers
• Markus Bartsch, TÜV NORD