Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center
Member-driven nonprofit that operates the trusted sharing community for cyber and physical threat intelligence across the healthcare sector.
Definition
Health-ISAC (Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center) is a global, nonprofit, member-driven organization that serves as the trusted threat intelligence sharing community for healthcare and public health (HPH) sector members, hospitals, payers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, biotech, and medical device manufacturers. H-ISAC operates a Threat Operations Center (TOC), runs the Medical Device Security Information Sharing Council (MDSISC), publishes the Annual Threat Report, hosts a Member Exchange of indicators of compromise (IoCs) in STIX/TAXII, and coordinates incident response across members during active campaigns.What this means in practice
For medical device manufacturers, H-ISAC membership and MDSISC participation are increasingly expected, both by hospital customers (who want their vendors plugged into sector intel) and by FDA, which references 'participation in an ISAO' as evidence of a mature post-market cybersecurity program. The Medical Device Vulnerability Information Sharing initiative coordinates coordinated vulnerability disclosure across the membership.Examples
- A MedTech manufacturer proactively shared intelligence about a newly discovered vulnerability in a medical device component with H-ISAC, enabling other members to assess their own products and systems for similar risks.
- During a widespread ransomware attack targeting the healthcare sector, H-ISAC rapidly disseminated indicators of compromise and mitigation strategies to its members, helping hospitals and clinics strengthen their defenses in real time.
- A hospital's cybersecurity team utilized the threat intelligence shared through H-ISAC to update their security protocols, protecting sensitive patient data from emerging threats identified by the community.
- •Joining for branding rather than operationally consuming and contributing intel, the value is in the bidirectional flow.
- •Confusing H-ISAC with HSCC, HSCC is the Health Sector Coordinating Council (policy/standards), H-ISAC is operational threat sharing.
- •Assuming H-ISAC replaces internal CVD, coordinated disclosure with H-ISAC accelerates sector-wide notification but doesn't substitute for your own program.
Frequently asked questions
Related terms
Grouped by themeEditor's picks
· Hand-selected related conceptsA documented process for receiving, triaging, and responsibly disclosing security vulnerabilities reported by external researchers.
An industry-developed reference framework from the Healthcare Sector Coordinating Council for end-to-end MedTech cybersecurity.
CISA's official vulnerability advisories for medical devices, the public record of disclosed device cybersecurity issues, indexed as ICSMA-YY-DDD-NN.
The bundle of cybersecurity artifacts a sponsor includes in a 510(k), De Novo, PMA, or HDE submission for a cyber device.
More in Cybersecurity
· Same categoryAAMI/ANSI standard establishing requirements for medical-device cybersecurity activities throughout the lifecycle.
AAMI Technical Information Report providing MedTech-specific guidance on cybersecurity risk management.
AAMI Technical Information Report on post-market security risk management for medical device manufacturers, the operational companion to TIR57.
Unauthorized remote control of an implanted neurostimulator (e.g., DBS) to alter stimulation parameters and harm a patient.
Where this term appears across MedTech Terms.
Sources
3 sourcesEvery citation below opens the original document. Each is graded against our source-tier hierarchy so you can see what rests on binding law versus commentary.
- 1Health-ISACTier 4 VerifiedHealth-ISACh-isac.org
- 2MDCG Cybersecurity GuidanceTier 2 VerifiedMDCGhealth.ec.europa.eu
- 3HSCC - Health Sector Coordinating CouncilTier 4 VerifiedHSCChealthsectorcouncil.org
Inline markers like [1] jump to the matching reference above.