Cyber asset intelligence company, Axonius has acquired cyber security specialists, Cynerio for over $100 million, with plans to create a single, unified platform that will be “capable of securing the entire clinical environment”, including critical IT infrastructure.
According to Axonious co-founder and CEO, Dean Sysman, many hospitals and healthcare providers have a “massive digital security blind spot”. To further explain the severity of this type of risk, he added, “the very devices essential for patient care, from infusion pumps to MRI machines, have been completely invisible to cyber security teams, creating a dangerous, unprotected attack surface.”
The acquisition aims to tackle this problem by creating a “single source of truth” for healthcare providers, helping to secure the entire clinical environment by combining the expertise of both companies. Covering a range of technologies and systems across IT, cloud, SaaS and clinical networks, the single platform has been proposed in response to “growing customer demand” the suppliers noted.
When discussing the benefits of the collaboration, Cynerio’s chairman of the board, Rasu Shrestha, MD, MBA, commented: “It provides the holistic visibility required to manage the entire connected attack surface, enabling healthcare organisations to build more resilient security programs. This is a vital step forward in helping ensure technology can securely and effectively support the core mission of patient care.”
As part of the acquisition, the Cynerio team joins Axonius to accelerate the company’s expansion into the healthcare market. Cynerio co-founder and CEO, Leon Lerman, joins as senior vice president, and co-founder Daniel Brodie joins as CTO.
Building more secure healthcare systems: the wider trend
In a recent HTN Now panel discussion, we were joined by experts from across the health and care sector to explore different approaches to cyber security and how to overcome the main challenges involved with making healthcare organisations more secure. Experts included Keltie Jamieson, the CIO at Bermuda Hospitals Board, Nasser Arif, cyber security manager at London Northwest Healthcare NHS Trust and Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Ryan Pullen, director of Stripe OLT Consulting.
Last month, NHS England awarded a contract to digital engineering and cloud transformation partner, Mastek and cyber security consultancy firm, Templar Executives, to provide NHS boards and executives with Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO) cyber security training. The training aims to “build resilience across the healthcare system” while also helping to improve understanding of the cyber security landscape.
The Abu Dhabi Department of Health recently signed a memorandum of understanding promising to “advance cyber security and digital resistance” within the health sector. They plan to “establish a collaborative framework” focusing on improving cyber resilience and encouraging the exchange of knowledge on cyber security, in order to upskill healthcare professionals and organisations.
