Security architecture for mobile E-health applications in medication control

The use of Radio Frequency Identification technology (RFID) in medical context enables not only drug identification, but also a rapid and precise identification of patients, physicians, nurses or any other health caregiver. Combining RFID tag identification with structured and secured Internet of Things (IoT) solutions enable ubiquitous and easy access to medical related records, while providing control and security to all interactions. This paper defines a basic security architecture, easily deployable on mobile platforms, which would allow to establish and manage a medication prescription service in mobility context making use of electronic Personal Health Records. This security architecture is aimed to be used with a mobile e-health application (m-health) through a simple and intuitive interface, supported by RFID technology. This architecture, able to support secured and authenticated interactions, will enable an easy deployment of m-health applications. The special case of drug administration and ubiquitous medication control system, along with the corresponding Internet of Things context, is used as a case study. Both security architecture and its protocols, along with a general Ambient Assisted Living secure service for medication control, is then analyzed in the context of the Internet of Things.FEDER Funds through the Programa Operacional Fatores de Competitividade - COMPETE and by National Funds through the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-022674

Arquitectura de segurança para a prestação de serviços de saúde em mobilidade

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia de ComunicaçõesO crescente custo associado ao tratamento de pacientes leva à sua relocação para o próprio domicílio. Esta relocação conduz à necessidade de uso de ferramentas automatizadas permitindo a diminuição dos erros que a mesma acarreta. O uso de Radio Frequency Identi cation (RFID) permite não só a identi cação dos medicamentos como também de pacientes, médicos, enfermeiros e qualquer outro tipo de prestador de cuidados de saúde. A combinação do uso de identi cação de etiquetas RFID com soluções Internet of Things (IoT) bem estruturadas e seguras permite um acesso fácil e ubíquo a registos médicos, oferecendo em simultâneo controlo e segurança a todas as interacções. Nesta dissertação é de nida uma arquitectura de segurança, facilmente implementável em plataformas móveis, que permite o estabelecimento e gestão de um serviço de prescrições médicas, num contexto de mobilidade usando Registo Pessoal de Saúde (PHR) electrónico. Esta arquitectura de segurança tem como objectivo o uso com uma aplicação móvel de saúde (M-Health) através de um interface simples e intuitivo, suportado pela tecnologia RFID. Esta arquitectura, capaz de suportar interacções seguras e autenticadas, vai permitir uma fácil implementa ção de aplicações M-Health. É apresentado o caso especial de administração de medicamentos e o sistema controlo de medicação ubíqua, de acordo com o contexto da IoT. A arquitectura de segurança e os seus protocolos, juntamente com o serviço seguro Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) para controlo de medicação, são analisados no contexto da IoT. De forma a veri car a exequibilidade dos protocolos e da arquitectura de segurança, foram implementadas aplicações protótipos ( xas e móveis) que permitem veri car o funcionamento total do sistema. Foram ainda efectuados alguns testes de segurança e desempenho para veri car a usabilidade de todo o sistema.The increasing healthcare costs leads to their relocation to their own homes. This leads to the need of automated tools allowing the decrease errors that this entails. The use of Radio Frequency Identi cation (RFID) technology allows not only drug identi- cation, but also identi cation of patient, physicians, nurses or any other healthcare giver. The combination of RFID tag identi cation with structured and secured Internet of Things (IoT) solutions allows an ubiquitous and easy access to medical records, while providing control and security to all interactions. In this thesis is de ned a security architecture, easily deployable on mobile platforms, which would allow to establish and manage a medication prescription service in mobility context, making use of electronic Personal Health Record (PHR). This security architecture is aimed to be used with a mobile e-health application (M-Health) through a simple and intuitive interface, supported by RFID technology. This architecture, able to support secured and authenticated interactions, will enable an easy deployment of m-health applications. The special case of drug administration and ubiquitous medication control system, along with the corresponding IoT context, is presented. The secuirity architecture and its protocols, along with a general Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) secure service for medication control, is then analyzed int the context of IoT. To verify the architecture and protocols implementability, they were deployed prototype applications (Fixed and mobile) allowing the veri cation of the whole system operating. They were also made some security and performance tests allowing system usability veri cation

Impact of Mobile and Wireless Technology on Healthcare Delivery services

Modern healthcare delivery services embrace the use of leading edge technologies and new scientific discoveries to enable better cures for diseases and better means to enable early detection of most life-threatening diseases. The healthcare industry is finding itself in a state of turbulence and flux. The major innovations lie with the use of information technologies and particularly, the adoption of mobile and wireless applications in healthcare delivery [1]. Wireless devices are becoming increasingly popular across the healthcare field, enabling caregivers to review patient records and test results, enter diagnosis information during patient visits and consult drug formularies, all without the need for a wired network connection [2]. A pioneering medical-grade, wireless infrastructure supports complete mobility throughout the full continuum of healthcare delivery. It facilitates the accurate collection and the immediate dissemination of patient information to physicians and other healthcare care professionals at the time of clinical decision-making, thereby ensuring timely, safe, and effective patient care. This paper investigates the wireless technologies that can be used for medical applications, and the effectiveness of such wireless solutions in a healthcare environment. It discusses challenges encountered; and concludes by providing recommendations on policies and standards for the use of such technologies within hospitals

Formal modelling and design of mobile prescription applications

Adverse drug effects are a major cause of death in the world with tens of thousand deaths occurring each year because of medication or prescription errors. Many errors involve the prescription or administration of the wrong drug or dosage by care givers to patients due to illegible handwriting, dosage mistakes, confusing drug names. With the use of mobile devices such as personal digital assistants and smart phones some of these errors could be eliminated because they allow prescription information to be captured and viewed in type rather than handwriting. This paper presents a formal modelling, and design of a prescription application to improve health care services. This could lead to costs and life savings in healthcare centres across the world especially in developing countries where treatment processes are usually paper based

Wireless body sensor networks for health-monitoring applications

This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in Physiological Measurement. The publisher is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0967-3334/29/11/R01

Mobihealth: mobile health services based on body area networks

In this chapter we describe the concept of MobiHealth and the approach developed during the MobiHealth project (MobiHealth, 2002). The concept was to bring together the technologies of Body Area Networks (BANs), wireless broadband communications and wearable medical devices to provide mobile healthcare services for patients and health professionals. These technologies enable remote patient care services such as management of chronic conditions and detection of health emergencies. Because the patient is free to move anywhere whilst wearing the MobiHealth BAN, patient mobility is maximised. The vision is that patients can enjoy enhanced freedom and quality of life through avoidance or reduction of hospital stays. For the health services it means that pressure on overstretched hospital services can be alleviated

How 5G wireless (and concomitant technologies) will revolutionize healthcare?

The need to have equitable access to quality healthcare is enshrined in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which defines the developmental agenda of the UN for the next 15 years. In particular, the third SDG focuses on the need to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. In this paper, we build the case that 5G wireless technology, along with concomitant emerging technologies (such as IoT, big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning), will transform global healthcare systems in the near future. Our optimism around 5G-enabled healthcare stems from a confluence of significant technical pushes that are already at play: apart from the availability of high-throughput low-latency wireless connectivity, other significant factors include the democratization of computing through cloud computing; the democratization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing (e.g., IBM Watson); and the commoditization of data through crowdsourcing and digital exhaust. These technologies together can finally crack a dysfunctional healthcare system that has largely been impervious to technological innovations. We highlight the persistent deficiencies of the current healthcare system and then demonstrate how the 5G-enabled healthcare revolution can fix these deficiencies. We also highlight open technical research challenges, and potential pitfalls, that may hinder the development of such a 5G-enabled health revolution

Medical Cyber-Physical Systems Development: A Forensics-Driven Approach

The synthesis of technology and the medical industry has partly contributed to the increasing interest in Medical Cyber-Physical Systems (MCPS). While these systems provide benefits to patients and professionals, they also introduce new attack vectors for malicious actors (e.g. financially-and/or criminally-motivated actors). A successful breach involving a MCPS can impact patient data and system availability. The complexity and operating requirements of a MCPS complicates digital investigations. Coupling this information with the potentially vast amounts of information that a MCPS produces and/or has access to is generating discussions on, not only, how to compromise these systems but, more importantly, how to investigate these systems. The paper proposes the integration of forensics principles and concepts into the design and development of a MCPS to strengthen an organization's investigative posture. The framework sets the foundation for future research in the refinement of specific solutions for MCPS investigations.Comment: This is the pre-print version of a paper presented at the 2nd International Workshop on Security, Privacy, and Trustworthiness in Medical Cyber-Physical Systems (MedSPT 2017