The US government through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has pledged $50 million for a program named Universal Patching and Remediation for Autonomous Defense (Upgrade), focusing on automating cybersecurity in healthcare to enhance hospitals' cyber-resilience. The initiative is aimed at developing software that can evaluate vulnerabilities in hospital environments, detect and create defenses for potential cyber threats. The program acknowledges the challenges posed by the diversity of healthcare institutions in terms of devices used and patient care provided, emphasizing the need for up-to-date security measures to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities effectively
The ARPA-H program recognizes that even brief disruptions in hospital IT systems can have critical implications on patient services and safety, urging the importance of protecting internet-enabled medical devices from cyberattacks and ransomware threats. The Upgrade program invites proposals for addressing vulnerability management, auto-detection of vulnerabilities, creating custom defenses, and swiftly identifying and fixing software vulnerabilities to ensure patient safety and data protection in healthcare institutions. https://www.darkreading.com/cybersecurity-operations/us-pumps-50m-into-better-healthcare-cyber-resilience