Security is about much more than just meeting today’s requirements. Futureproofing for tomorrow’s threats is equally important. And this is what we’re looking into in this article.
Namely, can your devices and systems adapt to continuously evolving risks, maintain standard compliance, and maintain trust? These are not questions you can afford to look at later. Medical device manufacturers embedding remote access capabilities should be looking at these things today.
A single vulnerability could translate into non-compliance, harm patients or your reputation. Embedding security together with remote access is, because of this, essential.
Today we finalize our list with the following:
Compliance with Regulatory Standards
Device Security by Design
Supply Chain and Infrastructure Security
Continuous Security Education and Awareness
Let’s look at these in order.
Compliance with Regulatory Standards
Some of the most rigorous safety and privacy regulations pertain to healthcare. Be it HIPAA in the U.S, GDPR in the EU, or ISO27001 globally, failing to align could mean reputational damage, fines, or worse. Compliance isn’t just about legal obligations. It’s also about earning the trust of customers and industry professionals. These standards give you a useful framework for achieving that. In turn, that helps improve your security stance.
Make sure you regularly review security standards and conduct regular and thorough audits. Also ask for the same thing from your remote access provider. They must be able to prove their security with more than just words.
RealVNC holds an ISO27001:2013 certification. It also has regular white box security audits and penetration tests. RealVNC’s remote access product supports HIPAA compliance through features like multi-factor authentication, session encryption, and granular access control. It also includes logging and audit capabilities.
RealVNC Connect supports HIPAA compliance through features like multi-factor authentication, session encryption, and granular access control, along with robust logging and audit history capabilities.
Device Security by Design
For medical device manufacturers, the best place to think of security is at the design stage. This means that security measures would need to be incorporated throughout the product lifecycle.
Follow a Secure Development Lifecycle (SDL), from initial release and through all the updates afterwards. This includes penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, and third-party audits. Of course, it also means acting immediately on the results.
When integrating remote access, choose a solution that can offer proof of constantly doing all the above. With RealVNC, you build security into your product’s remote access capabilities right out of the box.
Supply Chain and Infrastructure Security
No device exists by itself. Everything relies on components and infrastructure from external suppliers. Therefore, you need to ensure that those suppliers aren’t responsible for introducing vulnerabilities into the product.
As a healthcare equipment manufacturer, making sure that the above does not happen is your responsibility. You need to assess the security practices of your vendors, and make sure the infrastructure they use is secure.
RealVNC makes sure that you won’t need to worry about this when it comes to remote access integration. It manages its own critical infrastructure, not using external cloud providers for core services.
Continuous Security Education and Awareness
This one goes without saying. When it comes to security, people are often the weakest link. Educate your workforce constantly about evolving threats and best practices. Keep training updated, to cover new vulnerabilities and threats.
RealVNC constantly offers webinars, white papers, as well as blog articles that promote best security practices.
Find Out More
If you’re looking to find out more about remote access integration, there’s no better starting point than our Remote Access Integration Playbook, which you can download for free. Also make sure you check out our Remote Access Redefined Podcast, for great insights and inspiration on remote access integration. Also, you can download a printable, extended version of the Secure Remote Access checklist on the dedicated landing page, here.
Make sure you keep an eye out for the last instalment in this series of blogs.
