Fort2BCK: Fortifying Signatures in Healthcare Environments Through Blockchain

Abstract

This study introduces Fort2BCK, an advanced security framework designed to mitigate critical vulnerabilities in healthcare blockchain implementation, specifically data manipulation, unauthorised access and weaknesses in consensus protocols. Fort2BCK employs a dual verification mechanism, combining native consensus algorithm validation with the application of advanced cryptographic signatures (RSA, ECDSA and zero knowledge proofs, ZKPs), thus providing an additional layer of authentication, auditing and resistance to malicious attacks. In contrast to traditional approaches, Fort2BCK significantly reduces the risks of fraud and forgery by independently cryptographically verifying each block before it is integrated into the blockchain, strengthening security in scenarios where conventional consensus models may be vulnerable. In addition, its interoperability with multiple blockchain architectures, including proof of work (PoW), proof of stake (PoS) and delegated proof of stake (DPoS), allows it to effectively mitigate attacks such as the 51% attack in PoW and the nothing-at-stake problem in PoS, through an integrated external validation layer. To evaluate the effectiveness of Fort2BCK, experiments were conducted on a simulated hybrid blockchain network with 100 nodes and 50,000 transactions. The results revealed that Fort2BCK increases security by 35% against block rewrite attacks and decreases the rate of fraudulent transactions by 42%, compared to conventional blockchain systems, while maintaining a computational overhead of less than 8%. Additionally, Fort2BCK ensures compliance with regulations such as HIPAA and GDPR, ensuring that blockchain systems for the healthcare sector meet legal and privacy requirements. These findings demonstrate that Fort2BCK optimises the security, scalability and privacy of medical blockchains, facilitating the secure digitisation of healthcare systems and strengthening trust in clinical data management.