Wireless networking in healthcare domain

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4 SECURITY ISSUES & THREATS OF WIRELESS NETWORKING IN HEALTHCARE DOMAIN
There has been a lot of security issues and threats analyzed and discussed in many seminars and gatherings. There has been various rules and regulation which have been set forth by nations in order to protect healthcare providers and patients from security related threats. There are also heavy penalties and lawsuits filed in case of security and privacy breaches.
Some of the security challenges faced by incorporating wireless networking into the healthcare domain are:

 Observing and Snooping
 Threats during transmission
 Tracking of Location
 Tracking of Actions
4.1 OBSERVING AND SNOOPING
As common with all wireless networks, it is possible to monitor and listen and decipher the data being transmitted. Patient information can be discovered by an intruder which may cause the information regarding the vital signs, location, and illness of the patient to be disclosed and thus providing absolutely no privacy to patient confidential information. Also the intruder can also access the message details like the identification number for message and source and destination address and other such important information.
4.2 THREATS DURING TRANSMISSION
As discussed above, the interception and decryption of data can occur. This mainly happens during the transmission process. Another aspect of this capturing of information is that, it is possible to tamper with the information obtained. Intruders or hackers can decipher this information and also modify the information and retransmit the wrong data to the providers often misleading them with the next level of prognosis.
For example, if a sensor network monitoring a person who has been diagnosed with blockage in ...

... middle of paper ...

... boom over the last couple of years. The adaptation to the trend by healthcare providers has led to a significant increase in overall satisfaction among employees and patients.
Even though there are various trepidations with regards to expending wireless in healthcare sector in terms of security and privacy issues, this trend seems to be getting incorporated into healthcare domain worldwide and funds being invested to sustain the growing trend as the healthcare sector is of prime importance sue to its demanding nature and life critical aspects.
Efforts are also being made to provide complete encryption of data transmission in this domain as this is perhaps one of the areas where a security breach can cause catastrophic outcomes. Not too far is the era where it becomes very common for doctors performing remotely without scalpels by using wireless robotic systems.

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