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Security Concerns Drive Advances in Wireless Applications for the Healthcare Sector
10 November 2005
Wireless technology allows for enhanced connectivity, low costs of deployment due to the lack of cables, and faster access to information. The technology’s far-reaching benefits (including mobility) drive adoption in the healthcare sector where institutions utilize it to offer patients better facilities and care.
However, end users are raising concerns about the vulnerability of wireless networks and their potential security hazards. The complexity of the advanced systems further aggravates these security threats. Wireless local area networks (WLANs) are especially vulnerable to intruders and attackers. Crimes such as eavesdropping, identity theft, and Denial of Service (DoS) are common as the airwaves are difficult to regulate.
If you are interested in an analysis that provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants with an overview, the summary, challenges, and the latest coverage of Emerging WirelessTechnolog ies for Healthcare Applications, please send an e-mail to Surbhi Dedhia and Samantha Unnikrishnan , Corporate Communications, at sdedhia@frost.com/ sunnikrishnan@frost.com with the following information: your full name, company name, title, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be e-mailed to you.
“WLAN traffic travels over radio waves are not likely to be constrained by the walls of a building,” explains Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Arjun Chokkappan. “While employees might enjoy working on their laptops from a place outside the building, intruders and potential hackers can access the network from the parking lot or across the street.”
This makes it imperative for service providers to ensure that consumers derive the highest standards of security and have maximum client confidentiality. They must meet certain security requirements such as the establishment of trust partnership agreements among all the involved business partners, maintenance of formal electronic health records, and controlled access to information.
“Organized maintenance of the security configurations – including complete documentation of security plans and procedures – and security incident reporting procedures are ideal precautions,” observes Chokkappan. “Communication and network control, message encryption, and data authentication are other steps that providers could take to guarantee safety and prevent unauthorized access to patient information”.
The industry is also making efforts to create internal standards to safeguard against and minimize the security risks.
“Wired equivalent privacy (WEP) looks to protect the authorized users from eavesdropping by making the wireless link as secure as the replaced wired link,” says Chokkappan. “WEP uses symmetric encryption techniques and stream ciphering that can be embedded in the hardware components.”
Improved wireless technologies will also combat the challenge of interoperability as integrating a range of wireless devices with varying capabilities into medical, disaster response, and emergency-care scenarios raises new challenges.
Increased focus on research and development (R&D) will also aid participants in overcoming the challenge of overlapping wavelengths.
“Sorting out interference – either from nearby wireless networks or from devices sharing the same radio frequencies – is a significanttechnolog ical challenge,” points out Chokkappan. “For example, the 2.4 GHz frequency is particularly congested, with 802.11b and 802.11g networks sharing the same radio resources such as Bluetooth, cordless phone systems, baby monitors, and the wireless video systems.”
In order to spur uptake of wireless technologies across healthcare applications, participants need to offer high-speed access, better user interface, lower connection cost, and efficient functioning of the system.
Emerging Wireless Technologies for Healthcare Applications is part of the Technical Insights Healthcare Vertical Industry subscription service. It focuses on the revolutionary sectors of next-generation wirelesstechnologies. The study analyzes primary technology drivers, and evaluates the challenges in promoting wireless technolog ies to end users in the healthcare industry. It also provides an array of information on organizations, companies, universities, research institutions, and government agencies involved in the R&D of emerging wirelesstechnologies for healthcare applications. A summary of key patents offers insights into notable activities, technology trends, and important participants in this arena. Executive summaries and interviews are available to the press.
Technical Insights is an international technology analysis business that produces a variety of technical news alerts, newsletters, and research services.
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Media contact details
Surbhi Dedhia,
Frost & Sullivan,
+91 (22) 2832 4705,
sdedhia@frost.com
Samantha Unnikrishnan,
Frost & Sullivan,
+91 (44) 5204 4672,
sunnikrishnan@frost.com
Source: Business Wire India
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