Patent ID: 8146149

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a transmission means for transmitting communication packets to and from an external device via a communication network, the communication network comprises at least one insecure sub-network and a secure sub-network on the device side; a monitoring means for monitoring the state of the connection of the device to the network; and a breaker means for breaking an existing connection between the secure sub-network and the insecure sub-network, wherein the external device is a medical device comprising a means for connecting to the communication network, wherein the apparatus is suitable for breaking the network connection to the medical device if, during monitoring, a state of the network connection is detected which poses a risk to a patient treated with the device or to the correct functioning of the device wherein the apparatus carries out at least one of a translation or encryption of communication protocols used in the insecure sub-network or in the secure sub-network in such a way that communication packets that have been modified with respect to the communication packets originating from the original protocol are used in the respective other sub-network.