Security Challenges for Designing Wearable and IoT Solutions

Abstract

Wearable devices are the latest trend with in the technical communities these days. Lots of development is going on this field with individuals, startups and established companies. We can see so many wearable devices around us like simple RFID smart cards. Smart watches are more advanced example for having lots more capabilities. We use wearable devices specially for security and authentication purposes like RFID. If we want more advance example then we can get the example of fitness band, which can track our blood pressure, heart beat and even sugar level with the help of sensors fitted with these wearable wrist bands. We can also take the example of wearable beacons to transmit signals with regular interval to get the desired action on the event, but one common thing with above examples are that they all depends on the smart phone to process data. They use smart phone as a common processor. This is the important question that whether these wearable devices are only peripherals for smart phones or be more than that. It would be better if Internet of Things (IoT) devices transmit data directly to each other. It would be better if we remove the dependency of the smart phone or use them only to setup communication strategies. IoT devices can work on communication protocols to transmit data. Can’t it be better if you entered to your home and your wrist band communicate with AC to switch on with desired temperature and Coffee machine get started to prepare coffee? Can’t it be better if you switch on TV and TV adjust room lights accordingly? The use of this technology can be more then luxury and be a life saver in case of emergencies for critical patients by calling emergency services if it senses some abnormal health data. But one of the major concern with IoT communications is security and privacy. We never want to compromise with the security and privacy of users. For example, if we have smart locker which can communicate with smart band to operate then security is crucial. Same way the smart band contains health record and other IoT devices can communicate, so we never want our health record to be compromise with others but want to share with our doctor only. All this control and security will be a challenge for solution design the way IoT development grow with wearable devices. IoT communication protocols and selection of devices with security parameters are the key factor for the IoT solution design and implementations. In this chapter we intend to cover design and security challenges for Wearable Devices and IoT.