Identification of information security controls for fitness wearable manufacturers

Abstract

Statista suggests that there would be 368.2 million wearables shipped globally in 2020 with a projection of 500 million by 2024. These predictions are becoming a reality considering the fast growing of Intent of Things (IoT) do-main. These wearables come in different forms, shapes, and sizes. The existence of fitness wearables encourages people to participate in a healthy lifestyle through tracking of health and fitness-related activities. The functionality of these devices includes gathering, processing, transmitting, and storing user data. However, these devices carry with them vulnerabilities that can negatively affect the security and privacy of a user. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to identify security controls to mitigate the vulnerabilities that affect fitness wearables from a security and privacy perspective. However, to identify these security controls, the researcher firstly identifies the vulnerabilities affecting these fitness wearables. This study executed a methodology in two stages. The first stage conducted a literature review to identify the vulnerabilities affecting fitness wearables and related components within the ecosystem of fitness wearables. The second state follows a systematic analysis approach to identify security controls for the fitness wearable manufacturers to mitigate these vulnerabilities. The final output of this study indicates the security com-plexities surrounding the fitness wearables by presenting the study limitations.