Security and Privacy for Implantable Medical Devices

Implantable medical devices, such as pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators, can save lives and greatly improve a patient’s quality of life. As the use of wireless IMDs increases and as these devices begin to interoperate in vivo, the need to address IMD security and patient privacy under adversarial conditions will increase. A new framework for evaluating the security and privacy of wireless IMDs attempts to balance the tensions between these goals and traditional IMD design goals such as safety and utility. Proposed research directions can help mitigate conflicts between these goals, but solutions will require design trade-offs and the collective expertise of the medical community, security community, and regulatory bodies. This article is part of a special issue on implantable electronics.