Implantable health-care devices are being used in diverse applications, including patient identification, continuous monitoring of patient vital signs, and automatic delivery of medications.

Many implantable devices have the ability to communicate wirelessly with other devices. This capability can be very useful; for example, an implanted insulin pump might be reprogrammed to alter its dosage without its having to be removed from the patient. However, wireless communication has vulnerabilities: an attacker may be able to eavesdrop on patient information, track or spoof patients, or even cause direct physical harm to patients by maliciously sending commands that affect the operation of an implanted device. Security issues for implantable devices deserve particular attention because of the permanent nature of these devices.