DDMIA: Distributed Dynamic Mutual Identity Authentication for Referrals in Blockchain-Based Health Care Networks

Abstract

Patients go to multiple healthcare providers for treatment, and their health data is generally distributed among providers. The distributed health data and the decentralized health care system structure make it ideal for blockchain-based health information systems. The authors consider the referral use case; for instance, a patient goes to his primary health Centre (PHC) for treatment and is referred to a hospital. Authentication is usually done using certificates or key cryptography, which could become cumbersome when multiple parties are involved in a healthcare interaction. The security requirements were defined, and a novel multi-party, mutual patient identity authentication scheme called “Distributed Dynamic Mutual Identity Authentication (DDMIA)” was proposed for the referral use case in a blockchain-based e-health network. The DDMIA enables the PHC to authenticate the patient to the referred hospital. The DDMIA scheme was designed using Elliptic Curve Cryptography. It was proven to be secure by assuming the hardness of the elliptic curve discrete log problem (ECDLP) and Elliptic curve computational Diffie–Hellman problem (ECDH) using CK-Model. The formal security analysis using BAN logic proved that the sessions are secure after authentication. The DDMIA scheme was simulated in the AVISPA tool and proven safe against all active attacks. The scheme allows a patient to be authenticated by multiple parties without registering with all parties. It eliminates the need for multiple registration centers as well as digital certificates. Hence, the DDMIA scheme can be implemented for similar multiparty authentication requirements in blockchain-based networks.

Keywords

• Blockchain
• referral
• e-health
• health data exchange
• distributed identity authentication
• multi-party authentication