Report finds serious security flaws in Swiss hospital information systems

Security breaches in hospital information systems Keystone-SDA

The hospital information systems of several Swiss hospitals suffer from serious security flaws, according to a report from the National Testing Institute for Cybersecurity (NTC).

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Hospital information systems are the heart of modern hospitals. They manage the flow of information, process sensitive patient data and ensure the smooth running of the hospital environment, explained NTC on Thursday.

Over 40 medium to severe vulnerabilities were identified in the three systems examined by the NTC.

The report found that systems using obsolete architectures are particularly vulnerable. In many cases, the cybersecurity of these systems is inadequate. Some of the vulnerabilities identified allow full access to patient data and systems in a matter of hours.

While most of the major vulnerabilities have been corrected or mitigated, some fundamental issues require a complete overhaul of the software architecture. The report deliberately does not give details of the vulnerabilities.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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