Research Indicates Medtech Cyber Attacks Lead to Operational Disruptions

The 2026 Medical Device Cybersecurity Index from RunSafe Security reveals that 80% of cyberattacks affecting medical devices disrupt patient care, with 24% of healthcare organizations reporting medical devices affected by incidents.

Based on a survey of 551 healthcare professionals across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, the 2026 Medical Device Cybersecurity Index underscores a growing tension between improving procurement practices and escalating cyber threats. Healthcare organizations are making measurable progress in evaluating device security, yet both legacy systems and emerging technologies continue to introduce risk into clinical environments.

Cyber incidents involving medical devices are no longer isolated IT issues but increasingly translate into operational disruptions, such as delayed imaging, postponed procedures, and interruptions in critical care delivery. As a result, cybersecurity is becoming a core requirement in purchasing decisions rather than a secondary consideration.

Key findings include:

• 24% of organizations reported cyberattacks or exploited vulnerabilities involving medical devices
• 80% of incidents caused moderate or significant disruption to patient care
• 84% include cybersecurity requirements in procurement processes
• 56% rejected devices due to cybersecurity concerns, up from 46% in 2025
• 44% report using devices with known, unpatched vulnerabilities
• 28% operate devices past end-of-support, contributing significantly to exposure risk
• 57% use AI-enabled or AI-assisted medical technologies

Notably, organizations report operating end-of-support devices and report unpatched vulnerabilities, compounding risk exposure across healthcare systems.

Why does this matter? Cyberattacks on medical devices can delay treatments, disrupt clinical workflows, and directly impact patient outcomes in time-sensitive care environments.

How are healthcare organizations responding? Providers are embedding cybersecurity requirements into vendor RFPs and increasingly rejecting devices that fail to meet security standards.

What risks remain unresolved? Legacy infrastructure and rapidly adopted technologies—particularly AI-enabled systems—continue to introduce vulnerabilities faster than they can be mitigated.

“The findings land against a backdrop of large-scale healthcare cyber incidents that have disrupted care delivery and revenue flows, underscoring how quickly attacks on device-adjacent systems can translate into patient harm,” RunSafe Security Founder/CEO Joseph M. Saunders stated. “Medical device cybersecurity is increasing in importance to healthcare buyers as they see it as a patient safety and regulatory imperative.”

The report also highlights a widening gap between innovation and security readiness. While 57% of organizations have adopted AI-enabled or AI-assisted medical systems, 80% report moderate to high concern about the cybersecurity risks associated with these technologies—indicating that adoption is outpacing risk mitigation strategies.

At the same time, healthcare organizations face mounting pressure to balance innovation with resilience. As connected devices become increasingly embedded in clinical workflows, even minor vulnerabilities can cascade into system-wide disruptions, underscoring the need for proactive, built-in security throughout the medical device lifecycle.

RunSafe Security protects embedded software across critical infrastructure, delivering automated vulnerability identification and software hardening from build-time to runtime to defend the software supply chain and critical systems without compromising performance or requiring code rewrites. The RunSafe Security Platform includes an authoritative build-time SBOM generator for embedded systems and C/C++ projects, automated vulnerability identification and risk quantification, license compliance, and patented memory relocation techniques to prevent exploitation even when a patch is unavailable.

Headquartered in McLean, Va., with an office in Huntsville, Ala., RunSafe Security’s customers span the aerospace and defense, energy, operational technology, industrial automation, transportation and automotive, medical device, and high-tech manufacturing verticals.