Internet of Medical Things Security Frameworks for Risk Assessment and Management: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Background The massive expansion of the Internet of medical things (IoMT) technology brings many opportunities for improving healthcare. At the same time, their use increases security risks, brings security and privacy concerns, and threatens the functioning of healthcare facilities or healthcare provision. Purpose This scoping review aims to identify progress in designing risk assessment and management frameworks for IoMT security. The frameworks found are divided into two groups according to whether frameworks address the technological design of risk management or assess technological measures to ensure the security of the IoMT environment. Furthermore, the article intends to find out whether frameworks also include an assessment of organisational measures related to IoMT security. Methods This review was prepared using PRISMA ScR guidelines. Relevant studies were searched in the citation databases Web of Science and Scopus. The search was limited to articles published in English between 2018 and 17 September 2023. The initial search yielded 1341 articles, of which 44 (3.3%) were included in the scoping review. A qualitative content analysis focused on selected security perspectives and progress in the given area was carried out. Results Thirty-two articles describe the design of risk assessment and management frameworks. Twelve articles describe the design of frameworks for assessing the security of IoMT devices and possibly offer a comparison of different IoMT alternatives. A description of the included articles was prepared from the selected security perspectives. Conclusion The review shows the need to create comprehensive or holistic frameworks for operational security and privacy risk management at all layers of the IoMT architecture. It includes the design of specific technological solutions and frameworks for continuously assessing the overall level of information security and privacy of the IoMT environment. Unfortunately, none of the found frameworks offer an assessment of organizational measures even though the importance of the organization measures was highlighted in articles. Another area of interest for researchers could be the design of a general risk management database for IoMT, which would include potential IoMT-related risks connected to a particular device.