Fraunhofer IBMT Partner in the EU Project "AI4HealthSec"

Development and validation of a software platform for the prevention, detection and analysis of cyberattacks in the healthcare sector

Press Release /

In the EU project "AI4HealthSec", an international team of researchers aims to provide operators of health information infrastructures with innovative software tools to improve the detection and analysis of cyberattacks and threats and thus, to increase the security of health information infrastructures. For this purpose, the project will develop and validate the so-called AI4HealthSec platform. The Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT is contributing its many years of expertise in the development of innovative health information systems and their validation to the project. It provides three of its systems as examples to test the AI4HealthSec platform.

Increasing digitization in healthcare has led to health information infrastructures to deliver healthcare services that are considered critical and sensitive. However, the evolving interconnectivity of systems and devices has also changed the threats and created a variety of security and privacy challenges increasing the risk of potential cyberattacks. The integrated nature of such health information infrastructures leads to new potential entry points for cyberattacks. Therefore, there is a growing need for operators of health information infrastructures to protect these systems more effectively.

The research project "AI4HealthSec - A Dynamic and Self-Organized Artificial Swarm Intelligence Solution for Security and Privacy Threats in Healthcare ICT Infrastructures" aims to provide an innovative software solution that can better detect and analyze cyberattacks on healthcare infrastructures and their associated assets. Furthermore, the software aims to increase knowledge about current cybersecurity threats and privacy risks in healthcare information systems. To this end, in the cybersecurity platform, modern machine learning and swarm intelligence techniques are used.

AI4HealthSec, which involves fifteen partner institutions from across Europe, is funded with a total of 4.9 million euros from the European Union's Horizon 2020 framework program for research and innovation.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT provides several innovative health information systems to demonstrate the cybersecurity platform

The AI4HealthSec platform will be tested in six different healthcare pilot applications in the UK, Italy and Germany in the coming weeks. The Fraunhofer IBMT is providing demonstrators based on various technical developments, such as its technological platform for programmable active implants for neurostimulation and neuromonitoring in novel clinical applications. The aim is to demonstrate how abnormal activities on such medical technology assistance systems can be detected, reported and the attack path analyzed using the AI4HealthSec platform.

AI4HEALTHSEC

Projects Facts:

Complete name: »AI4HEALTHSEC - A Dynamic and Self-Organized Artificial Swarm Intelligence Solution for Security and Privacy Threats in Healthcare ICT Infrastructures«
Starting date: 01.10.2020
Duration: 38 months
Budget: 4,9 Mio €
Coordinator: Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Italy
Website: www.ai4healthsec.eu

Project partners:
FRAUNHOFER-INSTITUT FÜR BIOMEDIZINISCHE TECHNIK IBMT (GER)
KLINIKUM NÜRNBERG (GER)
TUV TRUST IT GMBH (GER)
AEGIS IT RESEARCH GMBH (GER)
FOCAL POINT (BE)
PHILIPS ELECTRONICS NEDERLAND BV (NL)
PRIVANOVA SAS (FR)
IDRYMA TECHNOLOGIAS KAI EREVNAS (FORTH) (GR)
UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON (GB)
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX (GB)
CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE (IT)
EBIT S.R.L (IT)
PDM E FC PROJECTO DESENVOLVIMENTO MANUTENCAO FORMACAO E CONSULTADORIALDA (PT)
SPHYNX TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS AG (CH)

Project coordinator:
Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (IT)
coord_ai4hsec@icar.cnr.it