System and method for authenticating wireless programming devices in programmable medical systems

A medical device of a medical system configured for communicating with an external programmer over a wireless communications link, the medical device comprising:

• a wireless communications module configured for concurrently receiving a first unencrypted version of a random number and a first encrypted version of the random number from the external programmer over the wireless communications link;
• and
• control circuitry configured for performing an authentication procedure on the external programmer and preventing the external programmer from commanding the medical device to perform an action unless the authentication procedure is successful, wherein the authentication procedure comprises at least one of the following:
• generating a second encrypted version of the random number from the first unencrypted version of the random number, comparing the first and second versions of the encrypted random number, and determining if the first and second versions of the encrypted random number match;
• and
• decrypting the first encrypted version of the random number to recover a second unencrypted version of the random number, comparing the first and second versions of the unencrypted random number, and determining if the first and second versions of the unencrypted random number match.