Illumina’s Sequencing Software Faces Cybersecurity Issues

Illumina is facing cybersecurity vulnerabilities in some of the next generation sequencing software for its instruments FDA said. The agency released a notice on June 2 about the affected software, which includes NextSeq 550Dx, the MiSeqDx, the NextSeq 500, NextSeq 550, MiSeq, iSeq, and MiniSeq.

FDA said the cybersecurity vulnerability affects the Local Run Manager (LRM) software and an unauthorized user could exploit the vulnerability by:

Taking control of the instrument remotely; operating the system to alter settings, configurations, software, or data on the instrument or a customer’s network; or impacting patient test results in the instruments intended for clinical diagnosis, including causing the instruments to provide no results or incorrect results, altered results, or a potential data breach.

Illumina said it has developed a software patch to protect against the exploitation of this vulnerability and is working to provide a permanent software fix for current and future instruments. FDA said it wants laboratory personnel and healthcare providers to be aware of the required actions to mitigate these cybersecurity risks.

At this time, FDA and Illumina have not received any reports indicating this vulnerability has been exploited.