A Blockchain Based Approach for Privacy Preservation in Healthcare IoT

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) is viewed as one of the emerging technologies and can be summarized as a worldwide network of interconnected devices. It is now venturing into all walks of life, the most essential application among them being health care. The major applications of IoT in health care include real time monitoring of patient body parameters, smart wearables, tracking vitals etc. These sensor data which are collected are then used by various third parties for research purposes. A major concern which arises here is the privacy of the people whose data is being gathered. The identity of the people is under risk The integrity of the sensor data collected must be maintained. Any modifications caused to this health related data by intruders may lead to harmful impact on one's life. Hence, any change on the data must be easily identified. The solution here for the above problem is blockchain. Blockchain can be defined as a decentralized digital ledger which can be used to record transactions and at the same time prevents modifications to the recorded data. It is one of the most disruptive technologies revolutionizing various fields and domains including IoT, Blockchain has not only appeared immune to manipulation of its records. The proposed solution here for protecting health-related IoT data involves a security mechanism consisting of privacy preservation and maintaining data integrity which can be achieved through (cryptography based) privacy preserving techniques (algorithms) and blockchain.