Texas governor pushes for review of Chinese medical devices amid federal cyber warnings

Texas state agencies and state-owned medical facilities have been urged by Gov. Greg Abbott to address cybersecurity risks linked to Chinese-made patient monitoring devices that could expose sensitive data following alerts from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, StateScoop reports.

Agencies should review equipment used in all state-owned medical facilities and ensure that newly purchased devices comply with a 2014 executive order restricting the use or acquisition of technologies produced by adversarial nations such as China, including platforms such as TikTok, said Abbott in a letter to the leaders of the state's cyber command, health services department, and human services department.

Abbott also directed state agencies and Texas higher education institutions to conduct an inventory of any medical devices capable of transmitting data and reassess cybersecurity policies protecting personal health information, while emphasizing existing prohibitions on the Contec CMS8000 and Epsimed MN-120 patient monitors. Compliance with the directive is expected by Apr. 17, said Abbott, who also intends to propose legislation bolstering Texans' medical data protections from China and other foreign adversaries.