Safeguard Scientifics, Radnor’s IT and medical investment firm, has provided $750,000 in backing to medical-device software security developer MedCrypt, writes Joseph DiStefano for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The cash influx will be used by Safeguard founders Mike Kijewski and Eric Pancoast and MedCrypt tech founder and Chief Scientific Officer Brett Hemenway to build commercial pilots to prevent hackers from accessing medical devices like pacemakers.

This issue got significant publicity recently after vulnerabilities in St. Jude Medical heart devices were exposed.

Kijewski said that MedCrypt “is designed to ensure that only instructions from a trusted source are executed by the medical device.” It is made to be compatible with devices ranging from MRI machines to defibrillators.

The software includes threat-sensing architecture that needs to be built in by cooperating manufacturers, as well as a “Threat Sharing feature designed to facilitate anonymous communication between multiple medical device vendors.”

Safeguard Managing Director Dr. Gary Kurtzman, who is also chairman of MedCrypt, noted that while this investment is smaller than the millions they normally invest, the company is moving with the times and plans to keep investing at all levels.

Read more about the backing in the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.