An efficient lightweight encryption model with re-encryption scheme to create robust blockchain architecture for COVID-19 data

ABSTRACT

Handling electronic health records from the Internet of Medical Things is one of the most challenging research areas as it consists of sensitive information, which targets attackers. Also, dealing with modern healthcare systems is highly complex and expensive, requiring much secured storage space. However, blockchain technology can mitigate these problems through improved health record management. The proposed work develops a scalable, lightweight framework based on blockchain technology to improve COVID-19 data security, scalability and patient privacy. Initially, the COVID-19 related data records are hashed using the enhanced Merkle tree data structure. The hashed values are encrypted by lattice based cryptography with a Homomorphic proxy re-encryption scheme in which the input data are secured. After completing the encryption process, the blockchain uses inter planetary file system to store secured information. Finally, the Proof of Work concept is utilized to validate the security of the input COVID based data records. The proposed work's experimental setup is performed using the Python tool. The performance metrics like encryption time, re-encryption time, decryption time, overall processing time, and latency prove the efficacy of the proposed schemes. © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.