Towards developing a secure medical image sharing system based on zero trust principles and blockchain technology
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(2020) 20:256
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Towards developing a secure medical image sharing system based on zero trust principles and blockchain technology Maliha Sultana1 , Afrida Hossain1 , Fabiha Laila1 , Kazi Abu Taher2 and Muhammad Nazrul Islam1* Abstract Background: Data security has been a critical topic of research and discussion since the onset of data sharing in e-health systems. Although digitalization of data has increased efficiency and speed, it has also made data vulnerable to cyber attacks. Medical records in particular seem to be the regular victims of hackers. Several data breach incidents throughout history have warranted the invention of security measures against these threats. Although various security procedures like firewalls, virtual private networks, encryption, etc are present, a mix of these approaches are required for maximum security in medical image and data sharing. Methods: Relatively new, blockchain has become an effective tool for safeguarding sensitive information. However, to ensure overall protection of medical data (images), security measures have to be taken at each step, from the beginning, during and even after transmission of medical images which is ensured by zero trust security model. In this research, a number of studies that deal with these two concepts were studied and a decentralized and trustless framework was proposed by combining these two concepts for secured medical data and image transfer and storage. Results: Research output suggested blockchain technology ensures data integrity by maintaining an audit trail of every transaction while zero trust principles make sure the medical data is encrypted and only authenticated users and devices interact with the network. Thus the proposed model solves a lot of vulnerabilities related to data security. Conclusions: A system to combat medical/health data vulnerabilities has been proposed. The system makes use of the immutability of blockchain, the additional security of zero trust principles, and the scalability of off chain data storage using Inter Planetary File Systems (IPFS). The adoption of this system suggests to enhance the security of medical or health data transmission. Keywords: Medical Records, Medical Images, Electronic Health System, Blockchain, Zero Trust, Security, Inter Planetary File System
Background Nowadays, about 7.7 billion people use the Internet on a daily basis [1]. Its uses have transcended previous boundaries and veered into fields ranging from minute things like getting food delivered from one point to another to crucial functions like keeping track of money and online *Correspondence: [email protected] Department of Computer Science Engineering, Military Institute of Science and Technology, Mirpur Cantonment, 1216 Dhaka, Bangladesh Full list of author information is available at the end of the article 1
banking. With the increase of users, the congenial atmosphere of the Internet has morphed into one of malice [2–4]. The threats Internet users have been facing since the first data br
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