Trust, Identity, Privacy, Protection, Safety, and Security (TIPPSS)

TIPPSS is the new cybersecurity paradigm for the age of the Internet of Things (IoT) and increased digital connectivity across domains from connected healthcare to distributed energy resources, transportation systems, research systems, and more. The billions of IoT devices in use today and growing every day create many new attack vectors which create risk to data, devices, humans, institutions, and governments.

The IEEE/UL 2933TM-2024 standard establishes a framework based on TIPPSS principles (trust, identity, privacy, protection, safety, and security) for Clinical Internet of Things (CIoT) data and device interoperability. This includes CIoT such as in-hospital devices, wearable devices, investigational devices, etc. that communicate with each other and with healthcare systems including electronic health records (EHRs), electronic medical records (EMRs), and other connected healthcare systems.

TIPPSS is being extended more deeply into connected healthcare, artificial intelligence (AI), distributed energy resources, research facilities, and more.

You can join the IEEE TIPPSS Roadmap Task Group to participate in these efforts by submitting our Task Group Participation Form.

History

A timeline of the standard – need a list of key moments to include below.

2015

The TIPPSS standard was originally envisioned in 2015 at a Cisco IoT World Forum Steering Committee meeting, where experts from the IoT field discussed the need for end-to-end trust and security for all Internet of Things (IoT) devices – especially critical infrastructure from healthcare to transportation and energy systems.

2016

In February 2016, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) organized the “IEEE End to End Trust and Security Workshop for the Internet of Things” held at George Washington University in partnership with NSF (NSF #1623931) and Internet2. This invitation-only workshop brought together technology leaders and innovators from Industry, government, and academia, including researchers, IT architects, security professionals, government agencies, industry associations, professors, and post-graduate students. The participants submitted presentations that expressed viewpoints, made recommendations, and furthered the discussion on the subject of end-to-end trust and security for an open IoT architectural framework. Presentations addressed the TIPPSS elements: trust, identity, privacy, protection, security, and safety across multiple domains. The workshop presentations are available on IEEE-TV.

2017-2019

An IEEE pre-standards effort began which resulted in the publication of a Pre-Standards Workstream Report: Clinical IoT Data Validation and Interoperability including a high level TIPPSS framework.

At the same time, the Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub (NEBDHub) at Columbia University was awarded an NSF Cybersecurity Risk Conference grant (NSF #1748395) to facilitate the planning and building of baselines for measuring and managing cybersecurity risk, with a particular focus on vulnerabilities in commercial and industrial Internet of Things (IoT). This accelerated the NEBDHub’s focus on IoT cybersecurity, leading to the development of a valuable partnership between the NEBDHub and IEEE for the development of the TIPPSS initiative and standards.

2019

The IEEE P2933 Standards Working group for Clinical IoT Data and Device Interoperability with TIPPSS was created, sponsored by the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Standards Committee. Over 320 individuals in 33 countries and 6 continents participated in the TIPPSS working group, providing a diverse and deep understanding of the TIPPSS challenges around the world to inform valuable insight in the development of the standard and recommendations to improve TIPPSS in connected healthcare.

2024

The IEEE/UL 2933TM-2024 standard was published in September 2024, and won the IEEE Standards Association Emerging Technology Award.

2025 and Beyond!

The IEEE TIPPSS Roadmap Task Group is developing and nurturing new standards efforts to bring TIPPSS to other cyberphysical systems. Join us!

Overhead view of students together at a large wooden table, reviewing a set of printed graphs and computer dashboards of data — Award 1

description

Five students working together on a school project, looking at a laptop computer screen — Award 2

description

IEEE Publications

Cybersecurity requirements for medical devices in the EU and US – A comparison and gap analysis of the MDCG 2019–16 and FDA premarket cybersecurity guidance. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, Volume 28, 2025, Pages 259-266. July 2025.

Advanced Health Technology – Managing Risk While Tackling Barriers to Rapid Acceleration, Edited By Sherri Douville. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003348603 – Chapter 1 – What to Know about Data Transformation for Advanced Technologies in Medicine – By William C. Harding, Florence D. Hudson, Shantanu Chakrabartty, Sherri Douville. Taylor & Francis Group. March 2023.

Women Securing the Future with TIPPSS For Connected Healthcare – Trust, Identity, Privacy, Protection, Safety and Security. Springer Nature Switzerland, 2022. Women in Engineering and Science Series. Florence D. Hudson, Editor

Women Securing the Future with TIPPSS for IoT – Trust, Identity, Privacy, Protection, Safety, Security for the Internet of Things. Springer Nature Switzerland, 2019. Women in Engineering and Science Series.

Pre-Standards Workstream Report: Clinical IoT Data Validation and Interoperability with Blockchain. IEEE Standards Association – June 2019 – ISBN 978-1-5044-5972-3.

Wearables and Medical Interoperability: The Evolving Frontier. IEEE Computer Society, September 2018. The Future of AI. (Vol. 51, Issue No. 09.) By Florence Hudson

Enabling Trust and Security: TIPPSS for IoT. IEEE Computer Society, IT Professional, March/April 2018. Financial Technologies and Applications. (Vol. 20, pages: 15-18) by Florence Hudson

TIPPSS for Smarter Cities – Trust, Identity, Privacy, Protection, Safety and Security. Aboott-Donnelly, I, Lawson, H. 2017. Creating, Analysing and Sustaining Smarter Cities: A Systems Perspective. Chapter 6, pages: 111-147. By Florence Hudson and Mark Cather.