Resilient Context-Aware Medical Device Security

Medical devices have become indispensable for millions of patients worldwide. They increasingly depend on software and interoperate with other devices wirelessly and through the Internet. The sensitive nature of health information, increasing interoperability of medical devices, and the fact that human wellbeing and life are at stake puts medical device security at the forefront in healthcare technology. We suggest a means of resiliently securing medical devices by varying sensitivity, impact, exposure and authentication depending on the devices' security context. We demonstrate this new context-aware mechanism on pacemakers.