Reconciling security and care in digital medicine

Chiara Carboni; Celia Brightwell; Orit Halpern; Oscar Freyer; Stephen Gilbert

doi:10.1038/s41746-025-01685-0

Reconciling security and care in digital medicine

NPJ Digit Med. 2025 May 8;8(1):261. doi: 10.1038/s41746-025-01685-0.

Authors

Chiara Carboni¹, Celia Brightwell², Orit Halpern¹, Oscar Freyer³, Stephen Gilbert³

Affiliations

¹ Chair of Digital Cultures, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, TU Dresden, Dresden, Saxony, Germany.
² Chair of Digital Cultures, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, TU Dresden, Dresden, Saxony, Germany. celia.brightwell@tu-dresden.de.
³ Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health, Medical Faculty, TU Dresden, Dresden, Saxony, Germany.

Abstract

Common approaches to cybersecurity frame end users as the weakest link in a system. In this Perspective, we argue that appraising end users as contributors to security can help reconcile both security and care practices. Through two case studies, including Swedish hospitals and a UK smart-home system, we demonstrate the gaps between established security protocols and the daily reality of care practices, and outline approaches to reconcile security and care.

Publication types

Review

Abstract

Publication types

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