Mentions of cybersecurity within the filings of companies in the medical devices industry rose 101% between the final quarter of 2021and the first quarter of 2022.

In total, the frequency of sentences related to cybersecurity between April 2021 and March 2022 was 140% higher than in 2016 when GlobalData, from whom our data for this article is taken, first began to track the key issues referred to in company filings.

When companies in the medical devices industry publish annual and quarterly reports, ESG reports and other filings, GlobalData analyses the text and identifies individual sentences that relate to disruptive forces facing companies in the coming years. Cybersecurity is one of these topics - companies that excel and invest in these areas are thought to be better prepared for the future business landscape and better equipped to survive unforeseen challenges.

To assess whether cybersecurity is featuring more in the summaries and strategies of companies in the medical devices industry, two measures were calculated. Firstly, we looked at the percentage of companies which have mentioned cybersecurity at least once in filings during the past twelve months - this was 86% compared to 77% in 2016. Secondly, we calculated the percentage of total analysed sentences that referred to cybersecurity.

Of the 10 biggest employers in the medical devices industry, BD was the company which referred to cybersecurity the most between April 2021 and March 2022. GlobalData identified 113 cybersecurity-related sentences in the United States-based company's filings - 1.4% of all sentences. Fresenius mentioned cybersecurity the second most - the issue was also referred to in 1.4% of sentences in the company's filings. Other top employers with high cybersecurity mentions included IQVIA, DaVita and Abbott.

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Across all companies in the medical devices industry the filing published in the first quarter of 2022 which exhibited the greatest focus on cybersecurity came from Invitae Corp Invitae. Of the document's 1,670 sentences, 47 (2.8%) referred to cybersecurity.

This analysis provides an approximate indication of which companies are focusing on cybersecurity and how important the issue is considered within the medical devices industry, but it also has limitations and should be interpreted carefully. For example, a company mentioning cybersecurity more regularly is not necessarily proof that they are utilising new techniques or prioritising the issue, nor does it indicate whether the company's ventures into cybersecurity have been successes or failures.

In the last quarter, companies in the medical devices industry based in the United States were most likely to mention cybersecurity with 0.56% of sentences in company filings referring to the issue. In contrast, companies with their headquarters in Asia mentioned cybersecurity in just 0.05% of sentences.