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As technology continues to increase it’s prevalence and assimilation into more of our daily lives, there emerges yet another techno-term, IoMT.

The internet of things consist of general purpose devices across a large spectrum of industries such as industrial control monitoring devices, home automation, and transportation. The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is a subset of IoT. This is an especially important section of IoT as it has to do with anything related to healthcare data, medical treatments, or patient monitoring. Examples of IoMT devices are wearable ECG monitors, connected stethoscopes, smart inhalers, and more.

Overall, IoT encompasses general everyday connectivity/ automation and IoMT focuses on improving patient outcomes or reducing the cost of healthcare.

This is an infantile market has moved out of it’s infancy and is experiencing significant growth. This is a sector that was valued at over $47 billion. Projections for the industry are optimistic with a predicted 38.5% compound annual growth rate. This means that by 2032, it is predicted that this industry will be valued at $814 billion.

Potential problems with the IoMT market

Cybersecurity risk and privacy concerns

due to their nature, these devices are highly available, leaving them exposed and vulnerable to attacks both on the devices and the networks that support them. Healthcare operations are already a significant target for ransomware operations and FIN APTs.

These devices also collect personal health information (PHI). This is any information relating to your health, personal information, medication, etc. If it has to do with your health, the doctor, or anything those organizations collect, it is PHI. This information is heavily coveted by back actor for resale value and to further exploit your identity and accounts.

Lastly, is the technical concern of infrastructure. Infrastructure while likely to largely be hosted in the could, the cost may balloon or become difficult to manage and maintain. This may leave to exposed data or vulnerabilities that can be exploited. Sometimes this mismanagement can cause issues such as outages due to inoperable updates/ systems.

This industry is growing, but will likely face significant challenges. Will IoMT device become a household item? Will companies like Apple or Microsoft enter into the IoMT market?