NEMECYS Use Case 4
This case study is built around in-vitro-diagnostic (IVD) medical devices. These devices are tests used on biological samples to determine the status of a person’s health.
There is a broad range of such devices, from self-tests for pregnancy, blood glucose tests and iron-deficiency tests, to sophisticated diagnoses performed in clinical laboratories. Other examples of IVDs are HIV tests or COVID-19 tests.
This case study mainly focuses on the former category, that is, self-tests.
The proposed case study involves data exchange between patients’ personal IVD medical devices and the hospital infrastructure, to collect patients’ information that is monitored over time outside the hospital premises.
In general, medical devices are felt safer than other devices (e.g., computers, tablets, smartphones), since their connection and data handling mechanisms are standard. However, though they contain very sensitive data, they are not monitored by the hospital staff for long periods.
Every time the hospital infrastructure contacts these devices, risks of sensitive data exposure and infrastructure damage grow. Thus, appropriate measures for recognizing and reducing these risks need be put in place.