DkIT based company to create 78 new jobs
A company based at Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) hopes to create 78 jobs over the next four years by helping protect medical devices against cyber attacks.
The spin out company, Nova Leah, has developed an expert cybersecurity risk management software application, SelectEvidence®, aimed at global medical device manufacturers and healthcare providers. The company is a spin off by researchers from the Regulated Research Centre at DkIT, and has just opened an office in Boston to serve the North American market.
‘ The recent WannaCry ransomware attack on the UK’s NHS highlights the importance of cybersecurity in the health sector. Today’s medical devices incorporate high levels of software and are connected across networks, online or wirelessly,’ commented Nova Leah CEO, Anita Finnegan, whose PhD research provided the basis for the new product.
‘As a result, medical device manufacturers are facing two major challenges: ensuring compliance with stricter regulatory measures and minimising the probability of malicious breaches aimed at medical devices and healthcare IT networks.’
‘We believe that cybersecurity for medical devices will be a significant new market,’ said Rob Frasca of COSIMO Venture Partners, who along with Enterprise Ireland, are initial investors in the new company.
He has described the new software as ‘a first of its kind’, saying: ‘ We are not aware of any other company worldwide that can provide medical device manufacturers with an automated solution to implement and maintain cybersecurity requirements across medical device product portfolios.’
The new cloud based system, SelectEvidence®, which follows a five-year research and development programme at DkIT, is designed to guide medical device manufacturers implementing cybersecurity requirements and best practices over the lifetime of device in compliance with US FDA (Food & Drug Administration) recommendations for information security threats and risks.
Researcher Dr Fergal McCaffery, from DkIT, a non-executive director of the new firm added, ‘SelectEvidence® ensures speedier market deployment for devices, reduced compliance costs and fewer market recalls due to data hacks; all of which boost profitability of our target organisations.’
‘ The launch of this spinout company is further evidence of the quality and global potential of the software research being carried out across the Lero organisation, commented Professor Brian Fitzgerald, director, Lero – the Irish Software Research Centre, which is supported by Science Foundation Ireland. ‘It also emphasises the national asset in terms of medical device research that is based at the DkIT.’