Interim draft report (2000 words)

Project Title

Privacy issue around wearable devices

Name

Abu Rahat MD Sadiqur Rahman

Email

[email protected]

Supervisor

Bharanidharan Shanmugam

Keywords

Wearable, Devices , WD, Privacy, Issue

Project Details:

Outline

The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to radically modify the quality of human lfe.

Goals of this project

• Identify the broader privacy issues

• Identify the privacy breaches based on the data collected by analysing case studies.

• Identify the existing solutions/work arounds for the privacy issues

Requirements/Prerequisites

Passionate about working with privacy and some background about privacy.

Student Gain

You will understand how your private health data is shared.

Background Literature

Search in IEEE explore, Sciencedirect, and from CDU library.

Anticipated Deliverables

At the end of the projet :

Student will demonstrate the privacy issues around the wearable devices and test one of the device.

With the development of technology, the utilization of Internet of Things (IoT) has largely focused on wearable devices, particularly in healthcare settings. IoT cases are increasingly becoming apparent as healthcare accelerates the state of connectedness (Arias et al., 2015). As such, the IoT initiatives involve the improvement of operations such as remote monitoring through wearable devices. With the development and advancement of technologies, it becomes hard to eliminate wearables as part of the present world.

A wearable device can be described as a compact electronic device that is attached to a personal accessories and clothing. In most cases, a wearable device comprise of computing architecture characterized by sensors and interactive user interface. Typically, wearable devices are connected through mobile networks, Bluetooth, based on end-application (Ching and Singh, 2016). These devices collect and transmit information in real time.

While wearable devices present significant benefits related to efficiency and simplicity, security are privacy concerns are eminent (Di Pietro and Mancini, 2003). In healthcare context, consumer benefits include wellness in real time. However, privacy concerns emerge due to the sensitivity of the data collected through these devices. The purpose of this project is to identify the underlying issues associated with wearable devices. As mentioned above, the collection of large volumes of sensitive data presents confidentiality concerns and privacy issues. As such, this project seeks to identify the distinct problems of collecting, processing, use and storage of data.

Wearable devices present conventional privacy concerns associated with adherence to principles of data collection, use limitations, security and accountability .Wearables present significant security risks due to the vulnerabilities established through intensified collection, processing and storing of data. With these devices, data can be transmitted to virtual users and to the cloud (Genaro Motti and Caine, 2014). This data is susceptible to hacking and malware infection, or physical theft. When information is transmitted to the cloud through wearable devices, it becomes hard to secure all data.

Wearables are prone to security breaches due to the complexity and diversity of the uses. The device in itself collects the data and transmits it to a device server or a web app through a series of layers. First, the device communicates with a server, often through wireless communication, and layer to virtual users of repository systems (Talebi, Hallam and Zanella, 2016). This path represents the possible areas through which data can be breached and used for malicious purposes.

The challenge in this context involves meeting the interests of stakeholders involved. As agencies and firms collect data, they strive to meet the needs of the business and respect the privacy of clients. The target stakeholders of this project include patients, clinician, healthcare facilities, employers and vendors (Genaro Motti and Caine, 2014).

Patients are the primary stakeholders who use mobile devices in regard to accessing health data and laboratory tests. Patients can engage in creating new models and reducing possible medical errors.

Clinicians appreciate the presence of wearable devices and strive to improve the healthcare practices by utilizing computerized data entry and electronic prescription. The utilization of wearables is meant to simplify and automate their work. However, clinicians must be concerned with the impending danger of wearable devices in regard to information leak or access by the unintended persons.

Healthcare facilities, particularly long term care centers and ambulatory surgery facilities provides community and home-based care that demands improved efficiency as well as reduction of delivery of care. Creation of secure systems is central to the integrity of healthcare services.

Researcher can depend on the findings of this report to generate better approaches of improving security and privacy of sensitive data. Researchers undertaking studies on vulnerability points and emerging solutions offered by the wearables.

This project seek to identify establish significant insights into a wide range of issues relating the use of wearable devices in collecting, processing and real-time transmission of data. The objectives include:

• To identify the popular wearable devices in healthcare and fitness sector.

• To explain how this data is being collected using the wearable devices.

• To examine how the wearable device user’s privacy is breached.

• To examine how data can be collected from wearable devices and can provide valuable information without any breach of privacy.

This project addresses the concept of data privacy and security of critical data gathered by the wearable devices. The project addresses aspects involved in creating a secure system in a transparent manner that enhances the trust and clients.

Activities in this project are summarized in the following Gantt chart

1. Table 1: Project Activities Gantt chart

Through preliminary investigation and library search on data security and privacy, this project will demonstrate the current knowledge levels in regard to how wearable devices are used in different settings.

1. Wearables as part of the medicine dynamics

As stated above, medicine field is one of the primary areas where wearable devices are applied.by examining the contribution of available research and interviewing physicians, the author will present the different ways in which the devices are used.

1. Security shortcomings of the wearable devices

Concerns over security of data imply that stakeholders worry about the use of wearable devices in collecting, processing and storing the data. This report will highlight the security features taken into account in the development of the devices

1. Privacy of critical data

Customers, the primary group of stakeholders need to trust the devices as efficient tools of collecting and transmitting the data as required without leakage or hacking. This project will examine the capability of wearable devices to protect critical data in the context of available technologies.

To allow for practical investigation of privacy issues, several materials will be required. They include:

• A wireless wearable device to test the threats involved in network connections

• Cloud storage service to test the capability of the Wearable device to collect and store data remotely

• Phone or Smartphone app analysis to investigate the capability of wearable devices to display live data

In addition, the project will incur the following costs

1. Table 2: Cost Estimates

There are possible project risks with a potential of affecting the attainment of aims and objectives of the project.

1. Cost risk-this risk implies that there is a problem of possible escalation of costs due to poor estimates and inaccurate examination of project scope. This risk is minimized by ensuring that estimates reflect the real-world scenario in terms of cost and material requirements.

2. Schedule risk- this risks implies that some activities might take longer or shorter time than expected. Slippages in time allocation result in high costs and delayed attainment of project benefits. This risk is addressed through careful examination of project scope and milestones. Time is allocated according to the length and degree of the activities involved.

3. Performance risk- this risk means that the project may fail to deliver the needed results that will suppress the outcomes relative to the project requirements

As seen from these risks, this project faces the challenges related with the effective completion of project stages. These risks rest with the ability of the author to control the deliverables. Associated with these risks is the possibility of deferral risk. This means that the project may fail to kick off at the required time due to unforeseen circumstances (Roberts, 2011). As such, the proposed project takes into account the possibility of initial delays and disruptions along the execution.

Conclusively, the Internet of Things means that wearables are set to advance and their relevance increase in different fields. With the growing adoption of these devices, the security and privacy concerns increases as stakeholders face the risk of data breaches and invasion of personal lives. The danger of personal data invasion rests with the dangers of impersonation, data modification and lack of confidentiality. As such, this project seeks to identify the underlying privacy issues and concerns associated with wearable devices. As mentioned above, the collection of large volumes of sensitive data present confidentiality concerns and privacy issues. The implementation of project seeks to identify the distinct problems of collecting, processing, use and storage of data.

• Arias, O., Wurm, J., Hoang, K. and Jin, Y. (2015). Privacy and Security in Internet of Things and Wearable Devices. IEEE Transactions on Multi-Scale Computing Systems, 1(2), pp.99-109.

• Ching, K. and Singh, M. (2016). Wearable Technology Devices Security and Privacy Vulnerability Analysis. International Journal of Network Security & Its Applications, 8(3), pp.19-30.

• Di Pietro, R. and Mancini, L. (2003). Security and privacy issues of handheld and wearable wireless devices. Communications of the ACM, 46(9), pp.74-79.

• Genaro Motti, V. and Caine, K. (2014). Understanding the wearability of head-mounted devices from a human-centered perspective. Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers - ISWC '14.

• Roberts, P. (2011). Effective project management. London, UK: Kogan Page.

• Talebi, N., Hallam, C. and Zanella, G. (2016). The new wave of privacy concerns in the wearable devices era. 2016 Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET).