pathirana-blockchainforsecure-2019.pdf (2.16 MB)
Blockchain for secure EHRs sharing of mobile cloud based e-Health systems
journal contribution
posted on 2019-01-01, 00:00 authored by D C Nguyen, Pubudu PathiranaPubudu Pathirana, M Ding, A SeneviratneRecent years have witnessed a paradigm shift in the storage of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) on mobile cloud environments, where mobile devices are integrated with cloud computing to facilitate medical data exchanges among patients and healthcare providers. This advanced model enables healthcare services with low operational cost, high flexibility, and EHRs availability. However, this new paradigm also raises concerns about data privacy and network security for e-health systems. How to reliably share EHRs among mobile users while guaranteeing high-security levels in the mobile cloud is a challenging issue. In this paper, we propose a novel EHRs sharing framework that combines blockchain and the decentralized interplanetary file system (IPFS) on a mobile cloud platform. Particularly, we design a trustworthy access control mechanism using smart contracts to achieve secure EHRs sharing among different patients and medical providers. We present a prototype implementation using Ethereum blockchain in a real data sharing scenario on a mobile app with Amazon cloud computing. The empirical results show that our proposal provides an effective solution for reliable data exchanges on mobile clouds while preserving sensitive health information against potential threats. The system evaluation and security analysis also demonstrate the performance improvements in lightweight access control design, minimum network latency with high security and data privacy levels, compared to the existing data sharing models.
History
Journal
IEEE accessVolume
7Pagination
66792 - 66806Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics EngineersLocation
Piscataway, N.J.Publisher DOI
Link to full text
eISSN
2169-3536Language
engPublication classification
C Journal article; C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2019, IEEEUsage metrics
Keywords
Electronic health records (EHRs)EHRs sharingmobile cloud computing (MCC)Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)blockchainsmart contractsaccess controlprivacysecurityScience & TechnologyTechnologyComputer Science, Information SystemsEngineering, Electrical & ElectronicTelecommunicationsComputer ScienceEngineeringCAREMechanical Engineering
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