A Systematic Review of Bio-Cyber Interface Technologies and Security Issues for Internet of Bio-Nano Things

Abstract

Advances in synthetic biology and nanotechnology resulted in tools that can be used to control, reuse, modify, and re-engineer cells' structure, as well as enabling engineers to effectively use biological cells as programmable substrates to realize Bio-NanoThings (biological embedded computing devices). Bio-NanoThings are tiny, non-intrusive, and concealable devices that can be used for in-vivo applications such as intra-body sensing and actuation networks, where the use of artificial devices can be detrimental. Bio-NanoThings are nano-scale devices used in various healthcare settings such as continuous health monitoring, targeted drug delivery, and nanosurgeries. These services can also be grouped to form a collaborative network called nanonetwork, whose performance can potentially be improved when connected to higher bandwidth external networks such as the Internet. However, to realize the IoBNT paradigm, it is also important to seamlessly connect the biological environment with the technological landscape, for example by having a dynamic interface designing to convert biochemical signals from the human body into an equivalent electromagnetic signal (and vice versa). However, this also risks the exposure of internal biological mechanisms to cyber-based sensing and medical actuation, with potential security and privacy implications. In this paper, we comprehensively review bio-cyber interface for IoBNT architecture, focusing on bio-cyber interfacing options for IoBNT like biologically inspired bio-electronic devices, RFID enabled implantable chips, and electronic tattoos. We also identify known and potential security and privacy vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies for consideration in future IoBNT designs and implementations.INDEX TERMS Bio-cyber interface, Internet of Bio-Nano Things, Bio-electronic device security, Bio-inspired security approaches I. INTRODUCTIONWith recent pandemics and the associated lockdown regime, there has been renewed, if not accelerated, interest, in exploring electronic and remote delivery of healthcare services. One of the recent trends is in the Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT) systems, which

Abnormality Detection and Localization Schemes Using Molecular Communication Systems: A Survey

“…Security and Privacy: The requirements for security and privacy are application-dependent. Particularly, intrusion into the body through IoNT systems (e.g., MC-based IoBNT systems and WBAN) may lead to bio-cyber attacks [191]- [193]. The challenge is to design stringent security-related measures that minimize the probability of intrusion (also as a potential source of abnormality) into the networks.…”

“…The challenge is to design stringent security-related measures that minimize the probability of intrusion (also as a potential source of abnormality) into the networks. Authors in [191] also discuss challenges in designing interfaces for secure communications at the intersection of IoNTs and conventional communication systems. As previously mentioned in Subsection IV-C1, the attacks on intra-sensor and S2FC links may launch spoofing, sentry, blackhole, and eavesdropping attacks [131].…”

“…In addition, the sensors and FC should be identifiable as legitimate nodes by the human immune system to prevent deliberate apoptosis by immune cells. Importantly, the FC2GW link faces critical challenges substantiated by WBAN systems which include eavesdropping, man-in-the-middle attack, resource depletion, injection attack, device tampering, denial-of-service attack, and malware and firmware attacks [191]. Hackers can launch several life-threatening attacks by intruding into external entities, e.g., GW or a local processing unit.…”

Coding in Diffusion-Based Molecular Nanonetworks: A Comprehensive Survey

“…In a related development, the interfaces in conventional network nodes are increasingly taking over more computing functions, e.g., at the interfaces between the nodes and the network in the form of smart network interface cards (NICs) [350]- [353]. An interesting future research direction is to expand the functionalities of existing cyber-bio interfaces that interconnect conventional networks with DBMC nanonetworks, e.g., [191], [354]- [357], to incorporate computing functions. Throughout, for computing and decision making in DBMC systems, the benefits and costs of utilizing emerging reinforcement learning approaches, such as [358], [359], should be investigated.…”

Wireless Sensor Network Based Monitoring System: Implementation, Constraints, and Solution

“… Communication media; and  remote cloud architecture. Zafar et al [26] conducted research on interface design based on nanotechnology (RFID, Chip Implants, etc.) to prevent attacks through cyber networks.…”