DSAS: A Secure Data Sharing and Authorized Searchable Framework for e-Healthcare System

Abstract

A rising number of people benefit from high-quality medical services in the e-healthcare system by exchanging encrypted personal healthcare records (PHRs) with doctors or medical research institutes. How-ever, one significant difficulty is that encrypted PHRs inhibit effective information search, resulting in a decrease in data utilisation. Another difficulty is that the medical treatment procedure necessitates the doctor being online at all times, which may be costly for all professionals (e.g., being absent under certain conditions). In this study, we propose a novel secure and practical proxy searchable re-encryption system that will enable medical care providers to conduct remote PHR monitoring and research in a safe and efficient manner. Through our DSAS scheme, (1) patients’ medical information collected by the gadgets are protected by encryption before being put online in the cloud server, ensuring the security and confidentiality of PHRs; (2) only authorised doctors or academic institutions have having access to PHRs. Alice (doctor-in-charge) can delegate medical research and utilisation to Bob (doctor in agent) or a specific research institution via the cloud server, thereby minimising information exposure to the cloud. We formalise the security concept and demonstrate the scheme’s security. Finally, performance evaluation demonstrates the effectiveness of our method. Proxy re-encryption, proxy invisibility, searchable encryption, mobile health care sensor networks