Do wandless ICDs (implantable cardioverter-defibrillators) employ any kind of encryption?
As far as I can tell, the answer is no. Let me give you a little background. At the last Heart Rhythm Scientific Sessions (2005, in New Orleans) most of the big ICD companies were showing off their wonderful new “wandless telemetry” systems. Historically, ICDs have been programmed (after implantation) and interrogated with some variety of inductive communication. This was done by placing a “wand” over the part of the patient’s body where the device was implanted and then initiating communication. It has a short range, around a few inches. Device companies have begun to use radio-frequency (RF) communication instead, which has a longer range, something on the order of feet or meters. This is a big problem. Not one person I’ve asked (admittedly, sales people for the most part) has been able to tell me if the new RF (a.k.a wandless) telemetry communication is encrypted. I did some patent searching at uspto.gov, and found that no patents have been granted on anything like this yet. However
