Towards secure and privacy preserving e-health data exchanges through consent based access control

Abstract

How we administer healthcare continues to evolve alongside the advancement of information technology. As we become more connected, the Internet of Things and our want to share information in a timely manner encourage us to redefine and enhance how we exchange health information. A fully integrated, universal health record system in Canada remains a distant goal. It requires thoughtful legislation, sufficient resources and the best of our technological and security implementation before realization. Nevertheless, we need such a system and are steadily working towards it. While there are a number of obstacles in attempting a universal health record system, this thesis presents a solution for secure health information exchanges. A valuable component in establishing a complete framework for all health information exchanges. We present two protocols. Consent based access control (CBAC) and a fairness aware privacy preservation protocol (FAPP). These two protocols grant patients control in how their sensitive health information is used and provides avenues for certain third parties to collect patient information without compromising security and privacy.