Generalizations and extensions of redactable signatures with applications to electronic healthcare

Abstract

Redactable signatures allow for altering signed documents, retaining the validity of the signature without interaction with the original signer. In their plain form, such schemes are designed for documents having an unspecific structure, i.e. documents are simply considered as binary strings. In this work, we generalize the concept of redactable signatures towards documents that inherently provide a structure and investigate the security of our construction. Furthermore, we present extensions to our scheme, adding features not commonly provided by other redactable signature schemes. Additionally, various applications in healthcare are discussed, supporting the applicability and usability of our construction. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.