For Immediate Release
DHS Science & Technology Press Office
Contact: John Verrico, (202) 254-2385
Washington, DC – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) awarded $2.2 million to Adventium Enterprises of Minneapolis for the development of technology that can help defend medical devices from cyber-attacks. The project titled “Intrinsically Secure, Open, and Safe Control of Essential LayErS (ISOSCELES)” was awarded through Broad Agency Announcement HSHQDC-14-R- B00016 and is part of the DHS S&T Cyber Security Division’s larger Cyber Physical Systems Security (CPSSEC) program.
“Many medical devices are networked into hospital or other healthcare systems. This means they may have security vulnerabilities,” said DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology Dr. Reginald Brothers. “S&T is working to improve medical device security to help mitigate this threat.”
Advances in networking, computing, sensing, and control systems have enabled a broad range of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) devices, including modern vehicles, medical devices, building controls, the smart power grid, and the Internet of Things. Driven by functional requirements and fast moving markets, these systems are being designed and deployed quickly. The design choices being made today will directly impact our nation’s industries and critical infrastructure sectors over the next several decades. S&T’s Cyber Security Division (CSD) recently launched the CPSSEC project that aims to “build security into” emerging CPS designs.
“Networked systems, including medical devices, need to be designed with security as an operational requirement,” said Dr. Dan Massey, S&T CPSSEC Program Manager. “This project is critical to securing hospital systems and patient safety.”
The Adventium team, led by Ken Hoyme, proposes to develop a high-confidence cyber-physical architecture for medical devices while enforcing safety and security monitoring systems. This technology will be featured in the upcoming 2016 Cyber Security Division R&D Showcase and Technical Workshop, February 17-19.
For more information, visit scitech.dhs.gov/cyber-research.
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