Governor Greg Abbott (Office of the Texas Governor | Greg Abbott)
[People News] Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter to Texas health agencies and public university systems, requiring a review of medical devices made in China in order to address related potential cybersecurity risks and protect Texas residents’ medical information from data leaks.
According to Voice of America, Abbott wrote on the social media platform X on Monday (March 10): “Texas is rooting out Chinese Communist Party operatives. I have directed state health agencies and public universities to review and inventory all China-made medical devices connected to our medical networks.”
He continued: “We kicked China-linked technology applications out of state government systems. We banned hostile foreign powers from buying Texas land. Now we are also protecting Texans’ medical data. The Chinese Communist Party will not infiltrate our hospitals.”
In a letter to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), the Department of State Health Services (DSHS), the Texas Cyber Command (TXCC), and the chancellors of public university systems, Abbott said that recent federal warnings about vulnerabilities in certain patient monitoring devices highlight the need to strengthen security protections.
“Safeguarding the physical safety of Texans and protecting their personal privacy is critical, especially when it involves information as important and private as personal medical data,” Abbott wrote. “I will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to spy on Texans. State-owned medical institutions must ensure that necessary security measures are taken to protect Texans’ private medical data.”
In January of this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued notices warning that certain China-made patient monitoring devices, including the Contec CMS8000 and the Epsimed MN-120, have cybersecurity vulnerabilities that could lead to unauthorized remote access and the leakage of protected health information.
“These notices confirm the warnings from experts who pointed out that the widespread use of China-made smart medical devices in our healthcare system poses a serious privacy and data security risk,” Abbott wrote in the letter.
Under Governor Abbott’s order, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), and public higher education systems must review procurement policies to ensure that they comply with Executive Order GA-48, catalog internet-connected medical devices, and assess the cybersecurity protections of state medical institutions.
In November 2024, Abbott consecutively issued three executive orders (GA-47, GA-48, and GA-49) which, in his own words, were aimed at protecting the people of Texas and the state’s infrastructure from the “potential threats of the Chinese Communist Party.” Among them, Executive Order GA-48 instructed the establishment of a defensive system within state government against Chinese Communist Party infiltration.
The Texas Cyber Command will be responsible for reviewing whether certain devices should be placed on the state’s prohibited technology list and for proposing additional security protection recommendations. The Texas Cyber Command was created by Abbott and is the largest state-level cybersecurity department in the United States.
According to the press release, all agencies must submit reports and recommendations to the governor’s office by April 17.
Abbott said in the letter that this feedback will help him propose legislation at the next session aimed at protecting Texans’ medical data from foreign hostile forces such as the Chinese Communist Party.
Abbott has taken multiple major actions to “protect the people of Texas from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party.”
On January 26 of this year, Governor Abbott expanded the list of prohibited technologies on state government employee devices in order to protect state government data. The restricted companies and products cover multiple sectors, including e-commerce platforms, communications equipment, artificial intelligence, energy, and drones. The specific list of companies includes Alibaba, Shein, TP-Link, and CATL.
Before that, Abbott signed what is described as the strictest law in the United States prohibiting hostile foreign powers from purchasing land in Texas.
In addition to Texas, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on February 5 the creation of a dedicated task force committed to combating threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party and other hostile foreign powers to Florida consumers, data privacy, and economic security. This is the first state-level dedicated task force in the United States specifically investigating how companies collect and share data. △
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