My initial research idea was a study of the integration of technology into the field of medicine, and what steps are taken to make sure that the new technology is secure. My current idea is similar, I want to look into cybersecurity in existing medical devices. I’m led to focus on current devices because looking into new devices is more difficult than I first thought.
My question is currently as follows; What cybersecurity safeguards are used on implant technology? My secondary question currently is as follows; What is the effectiveness of current measures against ransomware? These topics seem to have the most to dig in to and the most potential for what I could explore.
I have done some research and found two sources that relate directly to my topics, they are (Hassija et al., 2020) and (Baranchuk et al., 2018). Both have good information about how security measures have been implemented. Historically, there haven’t been too many attempts to breach security on medical implants (Hassijia et al., 2020), but the idea that that may not always be the case is something I find concerning and compelling.
Other than a search with the Forsyth Library system I have found that Computer Source, Health Source – Consumer Edition, and MEDLINE contain articles that relate directly to cybersecurity in healthcare, with around 100 articles among the three databases relating specifically to security in implant technology. Computer Source is a database that indexes articles about current trends in technology, Health Source and MEDLINE are databases that deal specifically with healthcare. Health Source is one of the largest healthcare related databases available and MEDLINE covers all types of healthcare related fields with the ability to search over 5,400 biomedical journals.
References
Hassija, V., Chamola, V., Bajpai B. C., Naren, Zeadally, S. (2020, November 20). Security issues in implantable medical devices: Fact or fiction? Sustainable Cities and Society https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102552
Baranchuk, A., Refaat, M. M., Patton, K. K., Chung, M. K., Krishnan, K., Kutyifa, V., Upadhyay, G., Fisher, J. D., & Lakkireddy, D. R. (2018, March 20). Cybersecurity for Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices: What Should You Know? Journal of the American College of Cardiology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2018.01.023
I noticed reading through that you had forgotten to do the example of the narrative citation for credit in reference to the research you found. It might be a good idea to edit this before the due date for full credit. As far as your question goes, I believe it could do well with further research. There might be information on current cybersecurity safeguards, however it would be interesting to compare the effectiveness of these safeguards . There could be one aspect that some of these safeguards share in common or that some do better than others. By finding that variable it could help you narrow the question down further.
A good question to think on is if you were a consumer using these medical devices, what protections would you want to be in place to protect your information? Are there any safeguards that are more important than the others?
You seem to have a strong start on this topic. I agree that it is more difficult to apply newer medical technology into the study especially if it was recently introduced.
Thanks for pointing out that I had forgotten to include that, I think what I’ve added meets that requirement. I hope it’s not too late, but I wanted to let you know I appreciated it.
This topic has me thinking, are there enough cybersecurity measures in healthcare? I think about the breach of my personal information and it’s a little scary to imagine others being able to look into my health history without consent. This is a very interesting topic. In doing my research, I find that many times data governance isn’t at it’s highest level because companies want to save money on technology advances. They try their best to spend as little as possible when it comes to systems and making sure the data and information they acquire is safe. I feel cybersecurity should be very high on the list of priorities when it comes to keeping data safe, especially in the healthcare field. No matter what the cost, companies should have appropriate security measures on their data systems.
I think this is an interesting area for research. For proposing research and considering a couple of questions, you may consider a population’s perception of cybersecurity in medicine. Do people think there is adequate cybersecurity, or do they think it is lacking and in need of improvement? These perceptions could be then connected to research that proves or disproves a level of adequate cybersecurity in medicine.