A “magic wand” developed to prevent hackers from stealing healthcare data will be introduced in April at the IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications.
Nicknamed “Wanda,” the digital tool was created by Dartmouth College researchers and is designed to secure and transfer data on patients’ assorted electronic and medical devices.
Created by doctoral student Tim Pierson, Wanda features two antennas that are separated by half a wavelength. Radio strength is used as a communications channel.
“Using Wanda could hardly be easier: A person simply points the wand at a nearby device that requires connectivity and the wand almost magically imparts connectivity parameters onto the target device,” Pierson wrote. “This happens one time, and afterward the wand is not involved in future communications – the wand itself disappears from the picture.”
In other words, Wanda makes it simple to safely add a new device to a home or facility Wi-Fi network.
Importance of Wanda
Wanda was developed as part of a $10 million National Science Foundation Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program called “Trustworthy Health and Wellness” (THaW). Among other projects, THaW is designed to protect patient confidentiality, as care moves away from medical facilities toward the home and as medical records increasingly are stored in electronic form.
Dartmouth is working with experts in computer science, business, behavioral health, health policy and healthcare information technology at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Michigan and Vanderbilt University.
You Might Also Enjoy: Will New Cybersecurity Data Sharing Bill Impact Health Informatics?
Wireless technology can not only help improve health (and access to quality care), but it can reduce costs – yet there’s a significant caveat, according to Dartmouth Professor of Computer Science David Kotz, who works with Pierson.
“These new technologies, whether in the form of software for smartphones or specialized devices to be worn, carried or applied as needed, also pose risks if they’re not designed or configured with security and privacy in mind,” Kotz said.
Kotz noted that maintaining – and setting up – a secure home network is beyond many people. This can give cyber attackers access to things they can use to compromise or steal data, or allow access to devices such as dialysis machines and heart-rate monitors.
Aside from configuring the device to join the wireless local-area network, it must be partnered with other nearby devices and configured to connect to the relevant account in the cloud. That’s easier said than done for people who aren’t tech savvy.
“Making those connections is difficult for many people, especially considering that different types of devices from different manufacturers often have different methods of making a connection and that the devices themselves often have very limited user interfaces,” Pierson wrote. “”Many of our volunteer testers remarked on the frustration they’ve encountered when configuring wireless devices at home and ask when they can take our wand home.”
Ultimately, however, Kotz expects Wanda to be used in areas outside of healthcare and for device management tasks beyond Wi-Fi network configuration.
