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Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure
At University Hospital Groningen (UMCG) we work hard to maintain and improve the security of our (medical) devices, systems and services. No matter how much effort we put into system security, there might be vulnerabilities present. If you discover a vulnerability you can report it safely via our Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure, so UMCG can take safety measurements.

Reporting a vulnerability

If you have found a vulnerability, we would like to hear about it so that we can take appropriate measures as quickly as possible. UMCG  is keen to cooperate with you to protect our clients and systems better.

Our Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure policy is not an invitation to proactively scan our network/ systems for vulnerabilities. We monitor our network/ systems continuously ourselves; Thus, a vulnerability scan is likely to be noticed, investigated upon by our IT department and unnecessary expenses may occur.

If you comply with our Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure policy we have no reason to take legal action against you regarding the reported vulnerability. We ask you to:

  • Send your findings to Z-CERT by sending an email to [email protected] encrypted with our PGP-key. Z-CERT is an organization who handles all cyber security issues on behalf of UMCG. Z-CERT will work with you and NAAM ORGANISATIE to make sure that your report is handled with care. 
  • Provide adequate information to allow Z-CERT to reproduce the vulnerability which helps to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. An IP address or URL of the affected system with a description of the vulnerability will usually be sufficient, although more information might be necessary for more complex vulnerabilities.
  • Do not exploit vulnerabilities, e.g. by downloading more data than is needed to demonstrate the vulnerability, looking into third-party data, deleting or modifying data. 
  • If you suspect to have access to medical data we ask you to let us verify this. 
  • Do not share information on vulnerabilities until they have been resolved and erase any data obtained through vulnerabilities as soon as possible;
  • Do not attack physical security, use social engineering, distributed denial of service, spam, brute force attacks or third-party applications.

How we will handle your report:

  • UMCG and Z-CERT will treat your report confidentially and will not share your personal data unless required by law;
  • Z-CERT will send you an acknowledgement of receipt and will respond to your report with an evaluation and an expected resolution date within 5 working days;
  • UMCG and Z-CERT will keep you informed of the progress in resolving the problem;
  • In communication about the reported problem we will mention your name (alias or handle) as the discoverer of the problem (unless you desire otherwise).  

We strive to resolve any vulnerability as soon as possible. Once the problem has been resolved we will decide in consultation whether and how details will be published. 

With thanks to Floor Terra for his sample text in Dutch on responsibledisclosure.nl  

[publication date: 1-5-2021]