Identity Management in the Internet of Things: the Role of MANETs for Healthcare Applications

The Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare and medical applications promises to solve many problems which are currently challenging the sector, ranging from remotely caring for our aging population to medical discoveries on incurable diseases. However, the challenges and risks of having 50 billion Things and users connected together are complex and may be detrimental to control. Concerns have been raised in relation to the IoT Identification Management (IDM) issues, in which each Thing (user and device) will be required to have a unique identity, and the IDM to be able to distinguish between a device and user, as well as ensuring identity and information context safety. This paper examines the underlying issues behind IDM and proposes a framework which aims to achieve the identification of Things and their safe management. The IDM framework is embedded in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) and assumes that most healthcare devices will be linked wirelessly and in mobile environments. The paper aims to open a research debate which will help to solve the future IoT IDM issues in healthcare applications.