At the end of the year, I had the amazing chance to attend Black Hat Europe 2023. During my time there, I interviewed Sina Yazdanmeher after his speech on “Millions of Patient Records at Risk: The Perils of Legacy Protocols”. We discussed DICOM, patients’ records leak, and what Aplite can do to prevent this.

A distressing development is unfolding on the internet: a considerable volume of patient’s personal information and medical records is dispersed throughout online platforms. Our comprehensive investigation into DICOM, the decade-old standard protocol for medical imaging, has brought to light a troubling revelation. Numerous medical establishments have inadvertently exposed millions of patient’s private information and medical histories to the expansive realm of the internet.

Medical imaging, encompassing techniques like X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs, relies on DICOM as the standard protocol for storing and transmitting these images. The security challenges associated with DICOM are rooted in using legacy protocols on the internet as various industries seek alignment with the shift toward Cloud-based solutions.