While moving healthcare out of the doctor’s office and into the home provides for greater patient freedom and monitoring, there are also new security risks. It is difficult to set up a secure network in the home and keep it operational since some systems may be compromised, data may be stolen, and devices such as heart rate monitors and dialysis machines can be hacked.
To address the problem, researchers from Dartmouth College have developed a digital magic wand to prevent hackers from stealing personal data. The system called “Wanda” makes it easy for people to add a new device to their Wi-Fi network at home or in a clinic.
The research on Wanda was funded by the National Science Foundation’s www.nsf.gov project titled “Trustworthy Health and Wellness” (THaW) http://ThaW.org. Supported by a $10 million, five year grant, the project is working with experts in computer science, business, behavioral health, health policy, and health IT from Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, and Vanderbilt University.
The system enables the user to simply pull a small wand from a USB port on a Wi-Fi access point and point it at a new device at close range. Within a few seconds, the wand securely beams the secret Wi-Fi network information to the device, making it secure and operational without anyone nearby capturing private data or being able to tamper with the information.
There are three basic operations involved. First Wanda configures a device to join the wireless local area network. Secondly, Wanda partners that device with others nearby, so they can work together. Third, it configures the device so it can connect to the relevant individual or organizational account in the cloud. Wanda a small piece of hardware with two antennas, uses radio strength as a communication channel in order to accomplish all three tasks.
The project being led by Dartmouth Computer Science Professor David Kotz www.cs.dartmouth.edu, notes, “Although mobile health technologies have incredible potential, right now, insufficient attention is being paid to security.”