Biometric Authentication for Implantable Medical Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Implantable medical devices (IMDs) face a challenge in balancing security and accessibility, as existing authentication methods are inadequate in ensuring secure access while allowing rapid access by medical personnel, especially in emergency situations, and are vulnerable to security risks such as unauthorized control and data exposure.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a 'touch-to-access' policy using a time-varying biometric, such as an electrocardiogram (ECG), for secure channel setup and authentication, where a monitoring device must physically contact the IMD to authenticate, ensuring a balance between security and emergency access by using a pairing protocol that extracts uncorrelated random bits from ECG signals for authentication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional authentication methods are used for IMDs, then security against unauthorized access is improved, but accessibility by medical personnel in emergency situations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the authentication parameter from static pre-established keys to dynamic biometric measurements (electrical signals from the heart). This allows the authentication system to adapt between security and accessibility modes: in normal operation, biometric authentication provides strong security; in emergencies, the same biometric system enables rapid authentication through simple skin contact, resolving the contradiction between security and accessibility
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the patient's own body (heart electrical signals) as the authentication credential. The IMD itself measures and processes the biometric data, eliminating the need for external authentication infrastructure. This self-service approach enables both secure authentication and rapid emergency access without requiring medical personnel to carry or manage authentication credentials
2Ease of operation
If wireless communication is enabled for IMDs, then non-invasive access and monitoring are improved, but vulnerability to security attacks and unauthorized control deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces biometric authentication as an intermediary layer between the wireless communication interface and the IMD's protected functions. The biometric verification acts as a mediator that must be satisfied before any wireless access or control is permitted, thereby maintaining the convenience of wireless communication while mitigating security risks through an additional authentication barrier
3Speed
If pre-established authentication keys are used, then authentication speed is improved, but security infrastructure requirements and complexity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the authentication credential from external infrastructure (pre-established keys stored in databases or on authentication servers) and embeds it directly in the patient's body as a biometric characteristic. This eliminates the need for external authentication infrastructure while enabling rapid authentication, as the credential is inherently present and can be measured directly by the IMD without external queries or database lookups
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus comprises a medical device configured for implantation into a living organism. The medical device comprises processing circuitry, a memory and interface circuitry configured for communication with a monitoring device. The medical device is configured to receive a request for access from the monitoring device, to measure a physiological value of the living organism, to perform a pairing protocol with the monitoring device, the pairing protocol comprising a secure channel set-up phase followed by an authentication phase, and to permit access by the monitoring device responsive to a successful pairing in accordance with the pairing protocol, the successful pairing being based at least in part on a determination that a physiological value supplied by the monitoring device substantially matches the measured physiological value. The medical device performs the secure channel set-up phase before sending the measured physiological value to the monitoring device.