Design of Secure Authentication Protocol for Cloud-Assisted Telecare Medical Information System Using Blockchain

Abstract

Telecare medical information system (TMIS) implemented in wireless body area network (WBAN) is convenient and time-saving for patients and doctors. TMIS is realized using wearable devices worn by a patient, and wearable devices generate patient health data and transmit them to a server through a public channel. Unfortunately, a malicious attacker can attempt performing various attacks through such a channel. Therefore, establishing a secure authentication process between a patient and a server is essential. Moreover, wearable devices have limited storage power. Cloud computing can be considered to resolve this problem by providing a storage service in the TMIS environment. In this environment, access control of the patient health data is essential for the quality of healthcare. Furthermore, the database of the cloud server is a major target for an attacker. The attacker can try to modify, forge, or delete the stored data. To resolve these problems, we propose a secure authentication protocol for a cloud-assisted TMIS with access control using blockchain. We employ ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) to establish access control for health data stored in the cloud server, and apply blockchain to guarantee data integrity. To prove robustness of the proposed protocol, we conduct informal analysis and Burrows-Adabi-Needham (BAN) logic analysis, and we formally validate the proposed protocol using automated validation of internet security protocols and applications (AVISPA). Consequently, we show that the proposed protocol provides more security and has better efficiency compared to related protocols. Therefore, the proposed protocol is proper for a practical TMIS environment. INDEX TERMS Attribute-based encryption, bilinear pairing, blockchain, cloud computing, mutual authentication and key agreement, telecare medical information system

Questioning the Security of Three Recent Authentication and Key Agreement Protocols

“…1) We show that the proposed protocol by Son et al [21] suffers from secret disclosure attack and also insider attack. 2) We present an off-line password guessing by an insider attacker against the proposed protocol by Yu et al [22], IoV-SMAP.…”

“…Content may change prior to final publication. [21]. The proposed protocol is based on bilinear pairings as the main source of the security.…”

“…While EGP aims to ensure the security of the communication between the protocol's parties with ultra-lightweight components, some other protocols employed more promising components. Among them, Son et al recently used blockchain to propose an authentication protocol for cloudbased telecare medical information system (TMIS) [21]. The proposed protocol is based on bilinear pairings as the main source of the security.…”

Is blockchain for Internet of Medical Things a panacea for COVID-19 pandemic?

“…Considering the limitation of the storage capability of blockchain and the massive amount of physiological data collected from patients, the integration of cloud-assisted wireless body area network (WBAN) with blockchain in the smart medical system is investigated in studies [20] , [21] , [22] . In [20] , a blockchain-enabled storage mechanism in the cloud-assisted WBAN is proposed.…”

“…In [20] , a blockchain-enabled storage mechanism in the cloud-assisted WBAN is proposed. Meanwhile, the authors in [21] investigate a telecare medical information system, which is implemented in the cloud-assisted WBAN. To guarantee the security of patient health data, they also design the blockchain-based authentication protocol for this system.…”