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Wearable Sensor Technology Draft

Wearable sensor technology is growing in the cybersecurity industry because of its detection, prevention and documentation aspect of the technology. Wearable sensor technology is anything on the human body that can be worn including clothing (Costa, Rodrigues, Silva, Isento, & Corchado, 2015). These devices are able to prevent, detect, document and react to other technology. They are used by different industries but can be found mostly in the healthcare industry. These devices can range from a smartwatch to a t-shirt that can track movements. Wearable sensor technology can be found all over the globe from business to being used at home to track personal fitness. A business that conducts their research and use wearable sensor technology has a leading edge over those that don’t.

Features and Capabilities

Wearable sensor biological technology is mostly to help the healthcare industry. Biosensors on the wearable technology are able to monitor vital signs of patients, athletes, children and even the elderly (Ajami & Teimouri, 2015). The sensors are able to read the body’s movement and send the information to the medical team to document their health information (Raths, 2015). The Apple Watch is an example of a biometric wearable device because it monitors steps being taken and calories burned (Elsevier, 2014). The Apple Watch could be used in the medical field and help patients that are in rehabilitation (Raths, 2015). Most wearable technologies have features like Wi-Fi, GPRS (General Packet Radio Services), Bluetooth, GPS (Global Positioning System), and third party applications (Costa et al., 2015).

Technology interactions with people / environments / processes

Wearable sensor technology is used for patients in hospitals, elderly in special care and athletes that are trying to track performance. For example, the Apple Watch will monitor someone’s steps and their movements throughout the day. Just because it monitors their movement doesn’t mean that the person will become healthier. Some people use this device to fight obesity (Drury, 2014). These types of devices are used as tools to recognize the user’s or patients abilities and weaknesses (Drury, 2014). Biological wearable technology can be used by anybody that is any age. These types of devices are not subject to one kind of person or skin type. Wearable technology is now making its way to access control points by being able to open doors to businesses (Everett, 2015).

Costs and Benefits

Wearable sensor technology in 2015 was up to $20 billion dollars (Ajami & Teimouri, 2015). The market is expected to rise at least $50 billion dollars in the next ten years (Ajami & Teimouri, 2015). Wearable technology is hard to implement because of the high costs so most small business are not able to afford this type of technology (Everett, 2015). There are a few industries that are starting to use the technology more like police officers to ensure the safety of the public and build trust. Other benefits to wearable technology are that the technology itself is usually small and or comfortable to wear. Most wearable sensor technology is able to be worn for long periods of time without irritation.

Cybersecurity Related Risks and/or Vulnerabilities

Patients are now able to log into systems to monitor their health records on their personal computers through which causes vulnerabilities and risks (Drury, 2014). “While Emmanuel’s proposals are the basis of the Affordable Care Act, and include adoption of the electronic medical record, use of social media and other personal communication technologies, changing reimbursement for providers from procedure to outcome based and stringent quality of outcome measures, they don’t include the scientific elements (Drury, 2014).” Wearable technology is part of Internet of Things (IoT) causes security issues. For example, researcher Barnaby Jack has been able to push a button on his laptop could control an insulin pump within 300 feet away without knowing the identification number (Curtis, 2015). Without proper security controls on these devices they are open to various attacks (Everett, 2015). These wearable sensor devices can also be detected by their frequency and hacked into (New Scientist, 2015). Hewlett Packard found that a hundred percent of smartwaches like Apple’s Watch are vulnerable to security attacks (Hess, 2016). University of Illinois has hacked into smartwaches as an experiment to see if they could get into and found it very easy (Hess, 2016). If hackers are able to access private information they would be able to blackmail the user wearing these types of devices (Curtis, 2015). Cybercriminals can use code to hack into pictures and videos that are on the devices (Curtis, 2015).

Recommendation

Wearable sensor technology is efficient and effective with research to back it up. Wearable technology can impact people’s health and can save lives in the field of emergency service sector. The technology can be expensive to implement and but can analyze data and use that data for benefits. Implementing a new wearable device will encounter some privacy issues but as long as they are secured properly then they are worth the risk to implement. If wearable technology is implemented it would gather lots of data that can be used to either prevent or detect and document. This technology can replace the pencil-and-paper method which can reduce materials costs. It could also replace data entry software that may require some type of licensing.

Conclusion

Wearable sensor technology can prevent injuries, detect movement, show someone’s reaction time, and document all the information. Lots of industries can use wearable technology to provide availability to their employees and patients. With all types of technology they come with risks but if the risks are mitigated with security controls then they are worth implemented. Wearable technology has been in effect and there has been lots of research to prove that their uses are worth implementing.

References

Ajami, S., & Teimouri, F. (2015). Features and application of wearable biosensors in medical

care. Journal Of Research In Medical Sciences, 20(12), 1208-1215. doi:10.4103/1735-1995.172991

Costa, S., Rodrigues, J., Silva, B., Isento, J., & Corchado, J. (7 September 2015). Integration of

Wearable Solutions in AAL Environments with Mobility Support. Journal of Medical Systems, 39(184), 1-8. doi: 10.1007/s10916-015-0342-z

Curtis, S. (25 June 2014). Wearable tech: how hackers could turn your most private data against

You. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet-security/10925223/Wearable-tech-how-hackers-could-turn-your-most-private-data-against-you.html

Drury, R. L. (2014). Wearable biosensor systems and resilience: A perfect storm in health care?

Frontiers In Psychology, 5, 1-5.

Elsevier (2014). Apple Watch Set to Drive Wearables into the Mainstream? Biometric

Technology Today, 2014(9), 1. doi:10.1016/S0969-4765(14)70131-6.

Everett, C. (2015). Wearable technology proves its business case. Computer Weekly, 24.

Retrieved from http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Wearable-technology-proves-business-value-hands-free-and-in-the-field

Hess, P. (9 January 2016). How to Secure Your Smart Watch [Blog]? ScienceLine. Retrieved

from http://scienceline.org/2016/01/how-secure-is-your-smart-watch/

New Scientist. (14 March 2015). Apple Watch is just half the story, 225 (3012), 7.

Raths, D. (2015). The Disruption Pipeline. Government Technology, 28(5), 20-24.