BLE Technology for Medical Devices
This whitepaper evaluates the security considerations when using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology in devices deployed in medical domains. Since these devices generate patient-specific data, there is a significant importance attached to the security, integrity and privacy of the data. Hence essential design considerations come into play when using BLE for these applications, as they need to comply with the regulatory standards in the medical domains.
The paper looks at the BLE Communication layer security and security for data-in-transit, the security infrastructure that the BLE protocol offers and gives a view on the BLE security challenges and how they can be overcome. The document does not address any specific medical product type or application or address specific security considerations for BT profiles applicable to the medical domain, such as the insulin delivery profile.
The document is aimed at medical application developers and medical product designers considering BLE as a communication protocol. It provides an insight into the data-in-transit security aspects to be considered in a BLE connection. It also presents potential design solutions derived from the author’s experience.
