The great IoT challenge in medical devices

The application that the IoT currently has in the medical industry, specifically in the devices that are used. We will speak from the point of view of the opportunities and challenges because, despite the fact that the IoT has enormous potential, there are still many aspects to be improved to make this field as effective as it is safe. In this first part, we will focus on the opportunities that the IoT has in medicine. The Internet of Medical Things (IoT) refers to the interconnected system of medical devices and applications that collect data and then provide it to health care IT systems through online networks. Currently, there are 3.7 million medical devices in use that are connected and monitor various parts of the body to inform health decisions.

Several reasons may explain the increasing adoption of IoMT. One of them is the growing presence of NFC technology in mobile devices such as smartphones, as well as the expansion and access to high-speed Internet. We will talk about the great challenge of the IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) because, although we saw that it has tremendous potential, there are still many aspects to improve so that this field is as effective as it is safe. As we have seen in previous notes, the IoT technology allows us to do things like tracking the progress of our physical state and control our houses remotely. And the same can be applied for the case of IoMT: for example, a doctor can remotely assess the status and evolution of certain pathologies.

But, it is not enough to think only about the benefits of the IoT. We must also take into account the drawbacks. If a device is connected to the Internet or to the server of a computer, said device and the data it contains and collects are also vulnerable to a cyber-attack. In other words, users of this system risk having their data stolen and exploited by hackers. Moreover, many of the vulnerabilities of the IoMT system occur due to human error. An IoT cybersecurity company revealed that 41% of all security alerts for connected medical devices originate from user-practice problems, such as the use of web browsers at medical workstations, participating in Chats like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, and download content.

Medical records have compromising information about a patient. For example, a violation of a clinic's medical record system could expose the identity of people who are HIV-positive; Or, it could make known the state of health of a VIP person, like an artist or a politician. Perhaps one of the most disturbing scenarios. We mean that a hacker could intervene the information sent or received by IoMT devices that control or regulate the status of a patient. It is disturbing to think of what would happen if the devices that administer drugs were pirated and manipulated by these hackers, which could have fatal consequences. Medical organizations should increase their investment in security as they connect more and more IoMT devices. Once a medical device can be accessed through the Internet, there are a variety of potential risks to consider, as well as the possibility that the malware will spread from one device to another.