Encryption on the air : non-Invasive security for implantable medical devices

Abstract

Modern implantable medical devices (IMDs) including pacemakers, cardiac defibrillators and nerve stimulators feature wireless connectivity that enables remote monitoring and post-implantation adjustment. However, recent work has demonstrated that flawed security tempers these medical benefits. In particular, an understandable lack of cryptographic mechanisms results in the IMD disclosing private data and being unable to distinguish authorized from unauthorized commands. In this thesis, we present IMD-Shield; a prototype defenses against a previously proposed suite of attacks on IMDs. IMD-Shield is an external entity that uses a new full dulpex radio design to secure transmissions to and from the IMD on the air wihtout incorporating the IMD itself. Because replacing the install base of wireless-enabled IMDs is infeasible, our system non-invasively enhances the security of unmodified IMDs. We implement and evaluate our mechanism against modern IMDs in a variety of attack scenarios and find that it effectively provides confidentiality for private data and shields the IMD from unauthorized commands.