Security and Privacy of Wearable Medical Devices

CHRISTOPHER J. HEISLER

Digital connectivity is fundamental for the health care system to deliver safe and effective care. However, insecure connectivity could be a major threat to patient safety and privacy (e.g. on August 2017, FDA recalled 465,000 pacemakers because of discovering security flaws). Although connecting a patient’s pacemaker to the Internet has many advantages for monitoring the patient, this connectivity opens a new door for cyber-attackers to steal the patient data or even control the pacemaker or damage it. Therefore, patients are forced to choose between connectivity and security. This research work presents a framework for secure and private communications between wearable medical devices and patient monitoring systems. The primary objective of this research is twofold, first to identify and analyze the communication vulnerabilities, second, to develop a framework for combating unauthorized access to data through the compromising of computer security.