Siemens Healthineers will lead a $6.9M ARPA-H project focused on cybersecurity for connected hospital medical equipment.
The work is part of ARPA-H’s Universal Patching and Remediation for Autonomous Defense program, known as UPGRADE. Siemens Healthineers will serve as principal research institution for the Secure Healthcare Infrastructure Enhancement and Defense project, or SHIELD.
Research partners include Siemens Corporation, Axonius, and Kraetonics. Siemens Healthineers said activities will be based at its AI Factory in Princeton, NJ, while the ARPA-H award page lists Siemens Healthineers as the prime awardee in Malvern, PA.
SHIELD is intended to develop an autonomous cyber-threat solution that helps hospitals identify, prioritize, plan, and deploy security upgrades at scale for connected medical equipment. ARPA-H said the project is aimed particularly at hospital systems and under-resourced facilities.
The Siemens Healthineers announcement said the project will use exascale simulation to assess cyber-resilience options for medical technology products, with emphasis on systems tied to continuity of care.
Imaging equipment is one listed operational focus. Siemens Healthineers said hospitals may need to suspend major imaging equipment when vulnerabilities are detected or ransomware incidents occur.
Current patching delays are part of the problem the project targets. Siemens Healthineers said the average time to apply critical security updates to hospital equipment is 491 days.
“Cyberattacks on hospitals are now a direct threat to patient safety and the resilience of America’s health system,” ARPA-H Director Alicia Jackson, PhD, said when UPGRADE launched in November 2025.
ARPA-H lists the SHIELD award start date as September 24, 2025, with Brett Harris as principal investigator. The agency lists the award amount as up to $6.9M.
Company:Siemens Healthineers
Siemens Healthineers coverage
Sources
- SHIELD: Secure Healthcare Infrastructure Enhancement and Defense. Government document
- UPGRADE launches to fortify medical devices against cyber threats. Government document
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