Blockchain: A Panacea for Healthcare Cloud-Based Data Security and Privacy?

TLDR

Healthcare data is increasingly moving to cloud platforms for real‑time access and cost savings, yet conventional cryptographic and access‑control methods fall short in addressing security and privacy in this environment. The study investigates whether blockchain technology can protect healthcare data hosted in the cloud. The authors outline practical challenges and identify research gaps for implementing blockchain-based protection of cloud‑hosted healthcare data.

Abstract

One particular trend observed in healthcare is the progressive shift of data and services to the cloud, partly due to convenience (e.g. availability of complete patient medical history in real-time) and savings (e.g. economics of healthcare data management). There are, however, limitations to using conventional cryptographic primitives and access control models to address security and privacy concerns in an increasingly cloud-based environment. In this paper, we study the potential to use the Blockchain technology to protect healthcare data hosted within the cloud. We also describe the practical challenges of such a proposition and further research that is required.