Security and Privacy Issues in

Wireless Medical Devices

Hossen MustafaCSCE 824

04/17/13

Wireless Medical Devices

Wireless Medical Devices

Wireless Medical Infrastructure

Research Areas

1. Wireless security and privacy

2. Medical database security

3. Secure medical systems

Wireless Security and Privacy Implantable medical device, e.g., pacemaker

No security in transmission between pacemaker and programmer.

As a result, vulnerable to eavesdropping attack spoofing attack battery drain attack

Wireless Security and Privacy Proposed solution:

The shield acts as a jammer to protect IMD wireless transmissions, known as “Friendly Jamming”

An upcoming publication shows that “Friendly Jamming” cannot provide full protection…

Wireless Security and Privacy Insulin pumps can be remotely

programmed to inject lethal dose shut down

Nike+iPod sports kit is vulnerable to Eavesdropping attack which can hamper location

privacy of the user Spoofing attack which can lead to invalid and

inconsistent health data Onyx fingertip pulse oximeter is vulnerable to

Man-in-the-Middle attack Jamming Attack

Wireless Security and Privacy Researchers have proposed

Cryptographic solutions Friendly jamming to protect legacy devices RSS-based jamming detection Detecting spoofed packet using correlation

Research Areas

1. Wireless security and privacy

2. Medical database security

3. Secure medical systems

Medical Database Security Medical database has different requirements

compared to traditional database Health Insurance Portability and Accountability

Act (HIPAA) includes strict privacy and security requirements: Privacy and Data Confidentiality Security Disposal Media re-use Accountability Backup and Storage

Hippocratic Database (HDB) ‘Most’ compliant with HIPPA It includes

Active Enforcement Compliance Auditing Optimal k-anonymization Sovereign Information Integration Privacy-Preserving Data Mining

Privacy Protocol for Linking Distributed Medical Data

Such queries are called private fuzzy queries The protocol ensures authorized data

exchange Disadvantage:

High overhead Does not work in case of unique attributes

1. E(attribute <sex, hair color, eyecolor>)

2. For each

match, encrypt

with public

key and add to

response

3. R = E(records)

4. Decrypt record with

patient private

key

Privacy Management in Dynamic Groups Sensitive health data are often co-managed

by different groups of medical employees Three forms of group dynamics are

challenging to privacy Dynamic Group Members Diverse Life Span of Teams Different Levels of Information Sensitivity

Research Areas

1. Wireless security and privacy

2. Medical database security

3. Secure medical systems

Secure Medical Systems PKI that Rings

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)-based authentication mechanism using cellular networks

Workflow1. The patient calls authentication service (AS)2. A challenge is sent to the patient’s cell phone,

encrypted with the patient’s public key3. The patient decrypts the challenge4. The patient prepares response which includes

hospitals ID and sends it to AS5. AS sends records to the hospital

Secure Medical Systems A Home Healthcare System in the Cloud

Empowers depressed patients over their treatment process

Works in three steps Personal monitoring devices monitor and collect

patients data Data are uploaded and stored in the cloud Data is shared with patient’s health record provider

on demand Uses cryptographic technique to ensure

security and privacy

Smartphone! Smartphone poses a new set of potential

problems: Apps are available for health monitoring using

phone sensors, e.g., accelerometer Apps are being integrated with health monitoring

sensors Apps are being used to keep track of medical

records, e.g., blood pressure Most apps use local storage in the

Smartphone for data with NO encryption Many apps provides server space for keeping

health records but does not follow HIPPA guidelines

Requirements for Medical Data Confidentiality Fine-grained Access Control Integrity Availability Performance Logging, Audit Trails, and Provenance Support for Long Retention and Secure

Migration Backup Cost

More Requirements… Secure transmission protocol, specially for

wireless transmission Enforcement of security requirements for

upcoming medical devices Find solutions for legacy (vulnerable) medical

device Bring smartphones under the guidelines of

HIPPA

Thank You