Privacy Preservation in a Blockchain-Based Healthcare System
I. Zagorac (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
C. Lal – Mentor (TU Delft - Cyber Security)
Mauro Conti – Mentor (TU Delft - Cyber Security)
FA Oliehoek – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Interactive Intelligence)
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Abstract
The continuous generation of a large volume of health data from different sources has led to healthcare being a data-intensive domain. To achieve innovative advances in medical treatment procedures and to provide personalized healthcare services to the patients this data needs to be shared among different medical facilities. However, because this data is highly sensitive and personal, several challenges can be faced. Since blockchain technology has features such as transparency, immutability, confidentiality, and auditability, research is being performed to check whether it can be integrated in the healthcare system and thus in the medical data sharing. Nonetheless, privacy is an important aspect of healthcare systems that blockchain technology needs improvement in.
This research, first defines the security and privacy requirements for healthcare systems. Then, we look deeper into the privacy requirements that have to be met in blockchain systems and the threats that can arise when systems do not meet them. Next, we present several privacy protection techniques that can be used in a blockchain-based healthcare system and present a design which is a combination of techniques that fulfill the privacy requirements. Lastly, this design is evaluated to see how each component of the design fulfills the requirements necessary.