Bradley Merrill Thompson and Robert Hudock, Members of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice, in the Washington, DC, office, were quoted in an article titled “FDA Seeks Cybersecurity Assessments from Medical-Device Makers.”
Following is an excerpt:
Robert Hudock, a cybersecurity expert at the law firm Epstein Becker Green says medical devices on the market now can be easily hacked, especially with the help of programs and tools that circulate on the Internet.
Even so, Bradley Thompson, one of Hudock's colleagues who specializes in health information technology regulation, said the FDA is right to take a flexible approach. “The trick is not to let widespread fear and theory drive us to imposing excessive security requirements that make the medical products less usable,” Thompson said. “Any time a manufacturer must add substantial security they also make it more difficult to do maintenance. Heightened security can also lead to unintended workarounds. So we obviously need to find the right balance.”