A Review of Cyber Threats to Medical Devices Integration with Electronic Medical Records

Medical devices and Electronic Medical Records (EMR) have been technologically integrated, transforming their independent structure and functionality. There is a significant increase in medical device deployment in healthcare institutions. However, the integration exposes them to cyber threats, which can undermine effective care delivery and threaten patient safety. The World Health Organization has noticed a significant rise in cyberattacks following the COVID-19 outbreak. This paper reviews the literature on cyber threats affecting the medical device integration with EMR (MDI-EMR). It highlights the cyber threats to the MDI-EMR and the effectiveness of control mechanisms. The most common cyber threats to MD include phishing, ransomware attacks, data breaches, Distributed Denial of Service attacks, and SQL injection. Security challenges associated with the EMR and medical devices are also threating their confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The review enables researchers to better understand safety, security and privacy issues related to the MD-EMR, as well as available solutions.