Significant layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services were regarded by lawmakers and cybersecurity experts to be ultimately detrimental to the safety and security of medical devices, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.
Despite disclosing that medical device reviewers would be spared from the most recent firings, the HHS has not yet revealed whether the cutbacks affected others involved in the cybersecurity verification process, the removal of whom could hinder not only the introduction of new devices but also the tracking of security issues in unveiled devices, noted Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., during a House Committee on Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing. "Any progress FDA was making for cybersecurity reviews would be erased. The agency will have lost the people in need to carry out fully informed cybersecurity reviews and devices and patient security suffer as a result," Clarke said. Meanwhile, former Center for Devices and Radiological Health Acting Director of Medical Device Security Kevin Fu emphasized the importance of keeping FDA cybersecurity personnel. "The loss of capacity at FDA would seriously hinder national readiness to respond to emergent threats posing risks to national security," Fu added.
