The Latest Insights From TripleKey

Patient data is the crown jewel of cybercrime, rich in immutable personal details and endlessly exploitable. And while hospitals have come a long way in protecting this treasure trove, the digital front lines have shifted.

In the high-stakes world of healthcare SaaS, where the performance of digital platforms can determine patient safety, care quality, and operational efficiency, investors are at a disadvantage when assessing the foundations of a SaaS investment opportunity.

Imagine having your software code singled out by the Federal Government as a risk to patient data. That’s exactly what happened to Contec Medical Systems earlier this year when a software code vulnerability put the company on the government’s radar.

Here’s an uncomfortable scenario Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) in healthcare software companies are all too familiar with.

In their 2024 report, researchers found software supply chain interconnections (third-party software) accounted for 15% of breaches in 2024, up from 9% in 2022 and 2023, and 4% in 2021. Clearly, cybercriminals are increasingly finding these third-party software vulnerabilities a successful pathway to exploit.

Widely embraced by the software development community, the undeniably positive impact open-source code has afforded software developers, is offset by a few, yet significant pitfalls; concerns oft overlooked by digital health solution providers, especially those new to patent and regulatory considerations. In this article, we highlight an open-source coding “blind spot” and present a potential solution to balancing open-source opportunities with legal and commercial realities.