Security failures catalyze the need for integrated security in medical technology, with healthcare executives noting how patient care is in jeopardy and purchase decisions are escalating.

One of the most recent reports mentions an alarming trend in terms of cybersecurity shortfalls within medical technology, and 22 percent of the sampled leaders in healthcare IT state that their medical tools were the subjects of cyberattacks. The 2025 Medical Device Cybersecurity Index commissioned by Virginia-based Runsafe Security polled more than 600 worldwide decision-makers in healthcare procurement.

Of the affected parties, 75 percent affirmed patient care interference, indicating the increased danger of interfered medical technology in healthcare activities. In the era of ransomware, malware and network intrusions, 46 percent of the respondents acknowledged that they avoided purchasing specific devices because of the security fears.

Attackers are becoming interested in disruption of operations at health facilities instead of data, limiting stolen data theft to medical technology systems, in particular life-supporting devices. The duration of downtime was variously between one and more than thirteen hours in affected organizations, and many of the organizations quarantined equipment or disconnected it completely.

An important issue highlighted in the report is the need to have embedded cybersecurity functions in the medical technology. Close to 79 percent of the consumers were willing to spend extra amounts of money on those products that had more effective runtime protection or those with built-in exploit prevention. Software bills of materials (SBOMs) and transparency more generally are becoming a higher priority consideration in purchases as well.

According to experts, such a shift indicates a larger trend currently in progress, namely, the fact that economic factors now exist that create an incentive for manufacturers to pay greater attention to innovation and increase the threshold through which medical technology security has to pass.