Postmarket Management of Cybersecurity in Medical Devices: Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff

Citation
Food and Drug Administration, Postmarket Management of Cybersecurity in Medical Devices: Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff (Jan. 22, 2016) (full-text).

Overview
This guidance clarifies the FDA's postmarket recommendations and emphasizes that manufacturers should monitor, identify, and address cybersecurity vulnerabilities and exploits as part of their postmarket management of medical devices. For the majority of cases, actions taken by manufacturers to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities and exploits are considered "cybersecurity routine updates or patches," for which the FDA does not require advance notification or reporting under 21 C.F.R. 806.

For a small subset of cybersecurity vulnerabilities and exploits that may compromise the essential clinical performance of a device and present a reasonable probability of serious adverse health consequences or death, the FDA would require medical device manufacturers to notify the Agency.