The use of Electro Cardio Gram (ECG)
signals as a biometric modality has been well-established
in healthcare applications and facilities because of its
robustness against security attacks compare to the
traditional biometrics (e.g. Iris, facial, fingerprint
biometrics etc.), which provide momentary verification
and require direct contact or proximity. However, recent
biometrics based on physiological signals such as ECG,
photoplethysmogram, Arterial Blood Pressure etc.
possess continuous, aliveness and internal nature
properties which make them suitable and unique for
providing security and privacy in healthcare remote
monitoring systems. The emergence of Internet of
Medical Things (IoMTs), biosensors and Wireless Body
Area Networks (WBANs) devices have enabled easy
monitoring of our vital signals for diagnosis and made
remote health monitoring more convenient and seamless.
These innovations however, brought with them other
challenges including various security threats to
communicated or stored data which require stringent
security measures to protect the sensitive personal
patients’ data. To the best of the authors’ knowledge,
previous surveys provide limited discussion on ECG-
based biometric security and privacy solutions for
healthcare institutions, especially in health remote
monitoring systems. In order to provide broader
discussion on this regard, this review systematically
presents the various ECG-based biometric
techniques/measures designed to provide security and
privacy of patients’ data in healthcare institutions.
Taxonomy of ECG-based biometric techniques for
healthcare security is presented. Discussions, challenges
and research opportunities were presented to guide
healthcare institutions, especially in developing countries
to embrace ECG biometric technology in order to
mitigate the glaring dangers of security threats on
patient’s health records.
Keywords : Biometric; Electrocardiogram; Healthcare; Security; Remote Monitoring Systems.