# IMD Security vs. Energy: Are We Tilting at Windmills?: POSTER

## TL;DR

This paper argues that recent embedded computing advances allow implantable medical devices to adopt more robust security measures without significantly compromising their limited energy resources.

## Contribution

It challenges the prevailing view that IMDs must use ultra-lightweight security primitives, showing that more mainstream security solutions are now feasible.

## Key findings

- Embedded computing advances enable stronger security for IMDs.
- Mainstream security primitives can be used without heavily impacting battery life.
- Potential for improved security protocols in IMDs.

## Abstract

Implantable Medical Devices (IMDs) such as pacemakers and neurostimulators are highly constrained in terms of energy. In addition, the wireless-communication facilities of these devices also impose security requirements considering their life-critical nature. However, security solutions that provide considerable coverage are generally considered to be too taxing on an IMD battery. Consequently, there has been a tendency to adopt ultra-lightweight security primitives for IMDs in literature. In this work, we demonstrate that the recent advances in embedded computing in fact enable the IMDs to use more mainstream security primitives, which do not need to compromise significantly on security for fear of impacting IMD autonomy.