Clone-Resistant Authentication for Medical Operating Environment

This work aims to improve security performance in the future Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) on open networks by embedding stable clone-resistant physical identities in all relevant medical entities. A hard-wired digital clone resistant identity realized as what we call a Secret Unknown Ciphers (SUCs) is to be embedded in all safety and security-relevant medical entities. We show that such clone resistant SUC modules offer very efficient identification protocols and management capabilities. A hard to clone authentication between any two or more units in a chain of medical entities can be strictly and securely achieved. Moreover, a broad range of unclonable and traceable medical operational sequences can be built in any combination to assure all medical liabilities with scalable security levels. In this study two generic sample protocols are introduced for the medical operating environment. The proposed SUC-based system can be embedded at low cost as an upgrade in future medical instruments deploying non-volatile FPGA devices. It is expected that such devices would be highly used in the future smart medical operating environment.