"Research Team Aims to Enhance Security of Medical Devices"

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded funding to a team of researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in support of a project aimed at improving the security of Internet-connected medical devices. The principal investigator of the VCU-based MedKnights project, Tamer Nadeem, Ph.D., explained that the project's focus is on the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). Nadeem and co-PI Irfan Ahmed, Ph.D., both associate professors in the VCU College of Engineering Department of Computer Science, were awarded $600,000 from NSF's Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure to develop a framework to enhance IoMT security. IoMT devices are used for various diagnostic, monitoring, and therapeutic purposes. Patient monitors, ventilators, MRI machines, and even "smart beds" are all examples of IoMT devices. Another example of an IoMT device, cited by Ahmed, is an Internet-connected insulin pump. Internet connectivity enables remote monitoring and dosage adjustment, both of which require a high level of security for patient privacy and safety. All IoMT devices are at risk of facing ransomware attacks, Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks, and other malicious hacker attacks. According to Nadeem, IoMT devices must be more secure than traditional Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as smart doorbells and smart thermostats in homes. Building a testbed, an isolated hardware/software assembly that will mimic the Internet-enabled hospital setting, is part of the MedKnights team's preparation for dealing with malicious IoMT attacks. The testbed will include datasets based on typical IoMT device behavior, traffic, and known attacks. The MedKnights project will investigate vulnerabilities in various IoMT hardware and software by subjecting the elements of the IoMT testbed to different attacks. This article continues to discuss the NSF-supported VCU-based MedKnights project aimed at increasing the security of IoMT devices.

VCU reports "Research Team Aims to Enhance Security of Medical Devices"