As you might expect, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity were two of the key topics most discussed in the educational sessions as well as on the exhibition floor at the recent HIMSS 2025 meeting held in Las Vegas, NV, USA. The annual meeting is hosted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), a global advisor, thought leader, and member-based society committed to reforming the global health ecosystem through the power of information and technology. The meeting boasted more than 28,000 visitors, 950 exhibiting companies, and 600+ educational sessions packed into 3 days of vibrant information exchange and discussions about the digital transformation changing the healthcare landscape.
While walking the exhibition floor and visiting the various healthcare technology vendors, it was not difficult to see how digitalization was evolving in most every sector. Discussions around interoperability and secure data exchange, digital patient engagement and virtual care, health equity and digital inclusion, and financial stability and value-based care, while not likely on the radar just 5 to 10 years ago, were prominent at the global healthcare forum.
As a vendor of innovative technologies for software security and protection of digital assets, I was most interested in the advances put forward in AI and cybersecurity, two topics that seemed to be top of mind for a majority of participants. Because of the heightened interest, AI and cybersecurity were each given their own pavilion providing visitors with ready access to expert staff eager to display their solutions.
For AI, this year seemed to highlight the transition from theoretical applications to practical implementations where AI is transforming healthcare management by optimizing operations, enhancing decision-making, and improving patient outcomes. There were several demonstrations in clinical decision support systems that augment physician judgment, predictive analytics for patient risk stratification and resource allocation, and responsible AI deployment in clinical settings. There were also demonstrations of AI at the operational level, enhancing efficiency in OR and staff deployment, reducing patient wait time, and enabling predictive modeling of resource consumption.
One of the keynotes featured the Samsung Medical Center in South Korea who has developed an AI system to continuously learn from patient data. According the Dr. Seung-woo Park, the president of the Medical Center, the AI system can predict daily demands for tests and procedures, optimizing scheduling and reducing patient waiting times. It also helps patients schedule multiple tests on the same day, improving both efficiency and convenience for patients. They also redesigned processes like scanning medication and other essential workflows. He credited the medical center’s streamlined processes with reducing the nurse turnover rate from 9.3% to 5.9%.
On the other side of things, cybersecurity was seen to be a huge concern for healthcare leaders. Some of America’s largest hospitals systems have suffered serious and costly disruptions from cyberattacks. It is even predicted that AI could play a growing role in cybersecurity as experts warn that ransomware groups could be using AI-powered malware to attack healthcare systems in the future.
Ransomware was a major concern, as healthcare organizations reported the highest number of ransomware attacks last year among the 16 industries classified as critical U.S. infrastructure, according to a new FBI report on Internet crime. Cybersecurity analysts say rural hospitals and smaller facilities are enticing targets, because it’s an easier payday, even if the facilities won’t be able to pay a big ransom. For ransomware groups, the return on investment is still high.
Other cybersecurity concerns included the increase of phishing attacks where cybercriminals send deceptive emails or messages to trick employees into revealing login credentials used to gain access to electronic health records (EHRs) and financial systems; vulnerabilities in Internet of Medical Things where connected devices (e.g., pacemakers, insulin pumps, MRI machines, etc.) are targeted for manipulation; confidential data breaches leading to identity theft; and cloud security risks of unauthorized access or data leakage.
For my part, I was eager to discuss the protection and cyber-mitigation solutions that our CodeMeter licensing and security technology provides for healthcare organizations. In the medical field, AIs are trained on anonymized patient data like a CT or MRT scan, or information from the patient’s medical history. This collected data is the training model. The result of the training process is the AI model. The AI model is then applied to sensitive patient data to generate personalized predictions. Due to the sensitivity of this data, there is a demand for offline solutions, which can be used by a doctor or in a hospital without sending patient data to a server in the cloud. In such case, the AI solution vendor provides the AI model and AI software as deliverables to the doctor or hospital.
Figure 1: Creation process at the AI Solution Provider
Figure 2: Usage process at the customer (doctor/hospital)
In this scenario, there are 2 threats:
- Unauthorized usage of the AI solution, resulting in revenue loss for the AI solution vendor.
- Manipulation of the AI model, resulting in wrong predictions with potentially dire consequences for the patient.
That’s where our CodeMeter Protection Suite comes into play, offering a comprehensive toolkit to safeguard both executables (the AI software) and data involved (the AI model). With CodeMeter, executables, sensitive functions, and data are encrypted using established cryptographic algorithms. In addition, cryptographic methods are utilized to protect the integrity of software and data. Licensing options like a perpetual license, or a pay-per-prediction license, can be added with a few clicks or lines of code. CodeMeter ensures that license agreements cannot be circumvented and AI models cannot be manipulated.
If you are interested in learning more about CodeMeter and its use in the healthcare field, download our eBook, Cybersecurity-by-Design: Medical Care and Life Sciences, and see how we have helped numerous healthcare and life science companies protect their digital assets. You may also be interested to read how medical device companies are using our CodeMeter licensing technology to monetize their software and open up new business opportunities.