INF80003: Security Challenges of IoT in Healthcare Research Project

This report delves into the security challenges of IoT devices within the healthcare industry. It begins by establishing a foundation, emphasizing the advancements and benefits IoT brings while acknowledging inherent vulnerabilities. The research identifies the core problem: the need to secure sensitive patient data stored and transmitted by interconnected devices. The objectives are to pinpoint these security challenges, propose mitigation strategies, and assess the roles of manufacturers and common users in ensuring data privacy. The report poses specific research questions to guide the investigation, including identifying security threats, understanding the underlying causes, assessing the impact of these challenges, and determining effective solutions. The hypothesis anticipates increased awareness among healthcare facilities and manufacturers regarding the protocols and importance of data security, and the adoption of mitigation procedures. Assumptions are made regarding potential data collection difficulties and the reliability of patient-provided information. The report concludes with a list of references used during the research.

Running head: SECURITY CHALLLENGES OF IoT IN HEALTH CARE
SECURITY CHALLENGES OF IoT IN HEALTH CARE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Foundation.......................................................................................................................................2
Research Problem............................................................................................................................3
Research Objectives.........................................................................................................................3
Research Question...........................................................................................................................3
Hypothesis.......................................................................................................................................4
Assumptions....................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Foundation
IoT has been a great achievement for the researchers dealing with information
technology. The devices that are invented till date promises to be useful and undoubtedly proved
to be the same. Whereas, it is certain that every invention comes with a specific list of demerits
as well (Hui, Chunyi and Wei 2018). From the application aspects IoT devices have reached to
almost every field existing. Healthcare industry is also one of the following. Ranging from
diagnosis and treatment the use of IoT devices in the industry of healthcare is used for the
production of various materials, such as prosthetic limbs and other devices as well (Wu et al.
2018). The advancement in healthcare technology undoubtedly proves to be useful for both the
patients as well as doctors. However, the demerits made their way to exist within the process.
The primary limitation of the use of IoT devices in healthcare technology is its issues regarding
the aspect of the security of the devices. It is certainly the most concerning issue that has to be
researched upon. The IoT devices are a storehouse of data that mainly consists the personal
information of the patients (Rajkumar & Deborah 2017). In addition, it is known for the IoT
devices that it is necessary for the devices to be connected in a certain network to function in the
desired manner. However, this feature of the devices making it a vulnerable target for the
attackers (Wurm et al. 2016). Data theft from these devices has been a common practice among
the cyber criminals these days. Besides, it is also witnessed that these devices has been a constant
point of target because of the ability of getting inside the secured network of the healthcare
facility by gaining control over the devices (Sivaraman et al. 2015). Hence, these issues
regarding the security of the device usage needs to be addressed properly. Many researches were
conducted, but there are a few sections remain unattended that needs to be addressed for securing
the future of the IoT devices.

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Research Problem
The conductance of this research is necessary because of the outcomes that are expected
to be generated at the end of the report. The outcomes will surely make the patients as well as the
authorities concerned about the way the devices should be used and the protocols that have to be
maintained. Hence, that would certainly reduce the security threats that are associated with the
usage of the IoT devices in healthcare industry. The outcomes can be used by the manufacturers
so as to make the users more associated with the hidden technical protocols that mostly remain
unknown to the users. The research is worthy enough to be sponsored as such researches are
necessary for the mitigation of the security threats towards the introduction of a novel technology
into a very sensitive field. Removal of threats could make the future of healthcare produce
successful result while having them remain would cause lethal results over the patients’ health as
well as the healthcare facilities.
Research Objectives
The primary objective of the research is to find out the security challenges that are
associated with the use of IoT devices. Additionally, the research will provide the mitigation
procedures for the threats along with the manufacturers’ take in the following subject. This
research also aims to bring awareness among the common people about the policies and
guidelines of the usage of the devices. Finally, the research is expected to make the facilities
aware of the threats and the measures they should adopt in order to avoid them.
Research Question
 Q1: What are the security challenges that are associated with the use of IoT devices in the
industry of healthcare?

4SECURITY CHALLENGES OF IoT IN HEALTH CARE
 Q2: What are the primary reasons behind the security challenges that take place with the
use of IoT devices in the industry of healthcare?
 Q3: How the security challenges of IoT devices in healthcare are affecting the industry?
 Q4: Which are the concerned areas that are experiencing such security challenges?
 Q5: How the challenges can be tackled immediately for smooth running of the process?
 Q6: What are the mitigation procedures for the security challenges of IoT devices in
healthcare industry?
 Q7: What measures should the manufacturers of the IoT devices should adopt in order to
avoid from being the vulnerable target for the cyber criminals?
 Q8: Are the common people aware of the policies and the guidelines that has to be
followed while using such devices?
 Q9: How much the common people are aware of the devices and the security issues
related to the devices.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis of the research or in other words the anticipated results for the research
are the following:
 The healthcare facilities will be aware of the threats, hidden protocols of the devices and
they are expected to have a team of IT professionals ready to tackle the ongoing
situations.
 The manufacturers will find it mandatory to make the users aware of the technological
protocols of the devices due to the importance of the sensitivity of the field of
application.

5SECURITY CHALLENGES OF IoT IN HEALTH CARE
 Mitigation procedures will be adopted by the facilities and would put more emphasis on
the security of the data of the patients.
Assumptions
There are certain conditions that have to be assumed before conducting the research. The
research is going to have a process of collection of data through surveys that will be conducted
over a selected sample of healthcare facilities of both types – using or not using IoT devices. The
data collection could be a point of issue as it is probable enough to not have the desired
cooperation from the officials of the facilities. Besides, approaching to the field of application
may not be accessible to the researching team due to pre-fixed protocols of the facilities. Data
from the patient’s end could not be considered completely authenticated due to less technological
knowledge as well as personal considerations. In such cases, secondary sources of data can be
referred to fulfill the incomplete section of the data.

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References
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Towards fog-driven IoT eHealth: Promises and challenges of IoT in medicine and healthcare.
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Patel, A.R., Patel, R.S., Singh, N.M. and Kazi, F.S., 2017. Vitality of Robotics in Healthcare
Industry: An Internet of Things (IoT) Perspective. In Internet of Things and Big Data
Technologies for Next Generation Healthcare (pp. 91-109). Springer, Cham.
Rajkumar, S.C. and Deborah, L.J., 2017, February. Survey: Handling on difficulties in internet of
things (iot) applications and its challenges. In 2017 Second International Conference on Recent
Trends and Challenges in Computational Models (ICRTCCM) (pp. 37-42). IEEE.
Sivaraman, V., Gharakheili, H.H., Vishwanath, A., Boreli, R. and Mehani, O., 2015, October.
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Wu, Y., Zhou, J., Li, J., Liu, J., Li, S. and Bai, C., 2018. Application of IoT-based medical
diagnosis and treatment in patients with obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome in primary
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Wurm, J., Hoang, K., Arias, O., Sadeghi, A.R. and Jin, Y., 2016, January. Security analysis on
consumer and industrial IoT devices. In 2016 21st Asia and South Pacific Design Automation
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