Teleoperated Surgical Robot Security

Abstract

Technology has greatly increased the availability of medical procedures in remote locations that are difficult to access, such as battlefields. Teleoperated surgical robots can be used to perform surgeries on patients over the internet in remote locations. A surgeon can remotely operate the robot to perform a procedure in another room or in a different continent. However, security technology has not yet caught up to these cyber-physical devices. There exist potential cybersecurity attacks on these medical devices that could expose a patient to danger in contrast to traditional surgery. Hence, the security of the system is very important. A malicious actor can gain control of the device and potentially threaten the life of a patient. In this chapter, the authors conduct a survey of potential attack vectors a malicious actor could exploit to deny service to the device, gain control of the device, and steal patient data. Furthermore, after the vulnerability analysis, the authors provide mitigation techniques to limit the risk of these attack vectors.