Detection and escalation of security responses of surgical instruments to increasing severity threats

Abstract

A surgical instrument for use with a surgical hub in a surgical procedure is disclosed. The surgical instrument includes a surgical end effector, a communication module configured to wirelessly pair the surgical instrument to the surgical hub, and a control circuit. The control circuit is configured to detect a first security violation, cause the surgical instrument to generate a first response to the first security violation, store a record of the first security violation, detect a second security violation, and cause the surgical instrument to generate a second response to the second security violation, wherein the second response is escalated from the first response.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A surgical system for use in a surgical procedure, comprising:
 a cloud server;   at least one surgical device; and   a surgical hub configured to communicably couple to the surgical device and the cloud server via a cloud network, wherein the surgical hub comprises a control circuit configured to:
 facilitates a secure network connection between the cloud server and the surgical device based on the authentication of the surgical device, wherein the authentication of the surgical device comprises:
 receiving, by the cloud server, at least one authentication credentials corresponding to the surgical device; 
 determining, by the cloud server, whether the at least one authentication credentials are accurate or counterfeit; and 
 transmitting, by the surgical device, an acknowledgement message to the cloud server based on a successful authentication of the surgical device. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The surgical system of  claim 1 , wherein the cloud server is configured to dynamically generate the at least one authorization credentials. 
     
     
         3 . The surgical system of  claim 1 , wherein the surgical device is configured to encrypt the at least one authorization credentials and the cloud server is configured to decrypt the at least one authorization credentials, wherein the at least one authorization credentials are encrypted using a hash-based encryption scheme. 
     
     
         4 . The surgical system of  claim 1 , wherein the acknowledgement message indicates that the surgical device is ready to transmit and receive medical data. 
     
     
         5 . The surgical system of  claim 3 , wherein in response to the received acknowledgement message by the cloud server, the cloud server transmits an update message to the surgical device. 
     
     
         6 . The surgical system of  claim 4 , wherein the update message comprises an update to an associated control program for the surgical device. 
     
     
         7 . The surgical system of  claim 1 , wherein the cloud server maintains a black list for unauthorized surgical devices. 
     
     
         8 . The surgical system of  claim 7 , wherein surgical devices on the black list are prevented from: communicating through the cloud network, having functional access with the surgical hub, or having full functionality when they are connected to the surgical hub. 
     
     
         9 . A method for provisioning a secure cloud connection between a surgical device and a cloud server comprises:
 transmitting, by a surgical device, an authentication credentials, corresponding to the surgical device;   receiving, by a surgical hub, the authentication credentials;   forwarding, by the surgical hub, the authentication credentials to the cloud server;   determining, by the cloud server, whether the authentication credentials are accurate or counterfeit; and   transmitting, by the surgical device, an acknowledgement message to the cloud server based on a successful authentication of the surgical device.   
     
     
         10 . The method for provisioning a secure cloud connection of  claim 7 , comprising dynamically generating, by the cloud server, the at least one authorization credentials. 
     
     
         11 . The method for provisioning a secure cloud connection of  claim 7 , comprising encrypting, by the surgical device, the at least one authorization credentials, and decrypting, by the cloud server, the at least one authorization credentials, wherein the at least one authorization credentials are encrypted using a hash-based encryption scheme. 
     
     
         12 . The method for provisioning a secure cloud connection of  claim 7 , wherein the acknowledgement message indicates that the surgical device is ready to transmit and receive medical data. 
     
     
         13 . The method for provisioning a secure cloud connection of  claim 9 , comprising transmitting, by the cloud server, an update message to the surgical device based on the received acknowledgement message. 
     
     
         14 . The method for provisioning a secure cloud connection of  claim 10 , wherein the update message comprises an update to an associated control program for the surgical device. 
     
     
         15 . The method for provisioning a secure cloud connection of  claim 7 , comprising, maintaining, by the cloud server, a black list for unauthorized surgical devices. 
     
     
         16 . The method for provisioning a secure cloud connection of  claim 14 , comprising, preventing, by the cloud server, surgical devices on the black list from: communicating through the cloud network, having functional access with the surgical hub, or having full functionality when they are connected to the surgical hub. 
     
     
         17 . A surgical hub for use in a surgical procedure, comprising:
 a transceiver configured to receive a communication transmitted by a surgical device, wherein the communication comprises at least one authorization credentials;   the transceiver configured to forward the at least one authorization credentials to a cloud server, wherein the cloud server determines whether the authentication credentials are accurate or counterfeit; and   receiving, by the transceiver, an acknowledgement message from the surgical device based on a successful authentication of the surgical device and forwarding the acknowledgement message to the cloud server.   
     
     
         18 . The surgical hub of  claim 13 , wherein the cloud server is configured to dynamically generate the at least one authorization credentials. 
     
     
         19 . The surgical hub of  claim 13 , wherein the surgical device is configured to encrypt the at least one authorization credentials and the cloud server is configured to decrypt the at least one authorization credentials, wherein the at least one authorization credentials are encrypted using a hash-based encryption scheme. 
     
     
         20 . The surgical hub of  claim 15 , wherein in response to the received acknowledgement message by the cloud server, the cloud server transmits an update message to the surgical device. 
     
     
         21 . The surgical hub of  claim 16 , wherein the update message comprises an update to an associated control program for the surgical device. 
     
     
         22 . The surgical hub of  claim 13 , wherein the cloud server maintains a black list for unauthorized surgical devices. 
     
     
         23 . The surgical hub of  claim 22 , wherein surgical devices on the black list are prevented from: communicating through the cloud network, having functional access with the surgical hub, or having full functionality when they are connected to the surgical hub.