Research Goal, Methodology, and Contributions

The research goal is to understand, identify, and analyze potential threats and vulnerabilities in the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices, and provide an analysis of solutions to the issues identified from a cybersecurity perspective. Through the investigation of the Mobile Cardiac Telemetry 3 Lead and the remote patient monitoring kit from Vivify Health, a critical analysis of security issues and potential solutions is presented to reach the research goal.

IoMT is a growing application of IoT technology. It directly improves the quality of life of patients and eases the burden on healthcare providers. IoMT consists of IoT devices specifically developed to meet the needs of patients and healthcare facilities. IoMT is developed for remote patient monitoring, intensive care, and context awareness, which gathers information about a patient’s environment. IoMT can also be utilized beyond direct patient treatment, such as medical equipment and medication management.

I have conducted investigative analysis of two IoMT devices, the Mobile Cardiac Telemetry 3 Lead (MCT3L) and the remote patient monitoring kit from Vivify Health. I have formulated a series of questions to meet the research goal. These questions serve as the basis for the analysis of the IoMT environment. I met with a local hospital that provided the MCT3L User Guide, which contained the specifications for the MCT3L. I also met with Wellstar Home Health for a demonstration of the remote patient monitoring kit from Vivify Health. The information gathered from these sources provided me with the information to conduct analyses to fulfill the research goal.

My contributions to the field include the analysis of real IoMT devices, their threats and vulnerabilities, and solutions to further protect them. Furthermore, the work in this thesis illustrates the lacking security countermeasures found in IoMT devices currently deployed. This work contributes to the IoMT literature by conducting a thorough investigation of specific devices, the MCT3L, and the remote patient monitoring kit. The IoMT security literature is lacking in thorough technical examination of devices that are currently deployed. This work provides details of IoMT devices and the security risks they impose, along with a comprehensive analysis of possible solutions. These solutions consist of using secure communication protocols, using multi-factor authentication for user equipment, understanding the device manufacturer’s role in security, implementing robust security policies and procedures organization wide, utilizing network hardening techniques and network segmentation, providing IoMT security training and education, using lightweight security protocols, and using blockchain and cloud computing technologies.