IoT-Enabled e-Health Systems: Navigating Security Challenges and Strategic Recommendations

The Internet of Things (IoT) facilitates the integration of diverse devices for data collection and exchange, significantly impacting various domains, including e-health. E-health systems leverage IoT to monitor patients’ health through smart medical devices, enabling local and remote data access. Despite the benefits, the increased connectivity introduces new cybersecurity risks, as malicious actors can exploit vulnerabilities to access sensitive patient information. Traditional security measures have mostly focused on securing individual devices through authentication and encryption. However, many medical devices lack built-in security features or the ability to be updated. To this end, this paper proposes a shift towards system-level security for e-health IoT systems, emphasizing the protection of the entire system rather than just the devices. The paper outlines best practices and recommendations to enhance security, improve interoperability, and address current gaps. These recommendations and guidelines are introduced to support medical institutions, device manufacturers, policymakers, and governments in developing robust security frameworks and policies. The recommendations are designed to be actionable across various levels of the e-health system, fostering secure and interoperable e-health solutions.