Explaining vulnerabilities of heart rate biometric models securing IoT wearables

Abstract

In the field of health informatics, extensive research has been conducted to predict diseases and extract valuable insights from patient data. However, a significant gap exists in addressing privacy concerns associated with data collection. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a machine-learning authentication model to secure the patients’ data seamlessly and continuously, as well as to find potential explanations when the model may fail. To address this challenge, we propose a unique approach to secure patients’ data using novel eigenheart features calculated from coarse-grained heart rate data. Various statistical and visualization techniques are utilized to explain the potential vulnerabilities of the model. Though it is feasible to develop continuous user authentication models from readily available heart rate data with reasonable performance, they are affected by factors such as age and Body Mass Index (BMI). These factors will be crucial for developing a more robust authentication model in the future.