M. Riegler, J. Sametinger, J.W. Rozenblit: Architecture for Self-protective Medical Cyber-Physical Systems, International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications, In: Kotsis, G., et al. Database and Expert Systems Applications - DEXA 2023 Workshops, Penang, Malaysia, August 28–30, 2023, Communications in Computer and Information Science, Volume 1872, Springer, Cham, pages 57-66, Doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-39689-2_6.


The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) promises to improve patient care and the efficiency of Medical Cyber-Physical Systems (MCPSs). At the same time, the connectivity increases the security risk. We aim to model Self-protective MCPSs to reduce the attack surface during runtime. Even under attack, these systems require to provide clinical function for the patients. Monitoring vulnerabilities and suspicious behavior and sharing attacker information contributes to improved security and can be the foundation for automated actions for healthcare delivery organizations. Switching between context-aware security modes provides a flexible way to protect online and offline IoMT and increase patient safety. This paper presents our ongoing work to make healthcare systems more secure. We show current security and privacy challenges, discuss how self-protective systems can overcome them, and what role IoMT devices play in that context.

Architecture for Self-protective Medical Cyber-Physical Systems