Lightweight encryption technique to enhance medical image security on internet of medical things applications

The importance of image security in the field of medical imaging is challenging. Several research works have been conducted to secure medical healthcare images. Encryption, not risking loss of data, is the right solution for image confidentiality. Due to data size limitations, redundancy, and capacity, traditional encryption techniques cannot be applied directly to e-health data, especially when patient data are transferred over the open channels. Therefore, patients may lose the privacy of data contents since images are different from the text because of their two particular factors of loss of data and confidentiality. Researchers have identified such security threats and have proposed several image encryption techniques to mitigate the security problem. However, the study has found that the existing proposed techniques still face application-specific several security problems. Therefore, this paper presents an efficient, lightweight encryption algorithm to develop a secure image encryption technique for the healthcare industry. The proposed lightweight encryption technique employs two permutation techniques to secure medical images. The proposed technique is analyzed, evaluated, and then compared to conventionally encrypted ones in security and execution time. Numerous test images have been used to determine the performance of the proposed algorithm. Several experiments show that the proposed algorithm for image cryptosystems provides better efficiency than conventional techniques

A new security model using multilayer approach for E-health services

<B>Problem statement:</B> Delivering services online is important in e-health. Services that are delivered through online communications between engaging parties, often involve sensitive information transmitted over the Internet. However, while the Internet successfully facilitates these services, significant threats also come in parallel. Network attacks, information breaches and malicious software on a computer system are common threats to the Internet. These threats can cause severe damage to computer systems and also the information. As we study current security technologies particularly that provide security to online communications, we found out that these technologies do not cater for different kinds of security needs because of the rigid way the security mechanisms are constructed. Therefore, we are interested in developing a security model that facilitates these needs, specifically in e-health. <B>Approach:</B> First, the area where different security requirements are needed are explored, such as the information classification found in ISO17799. This classification is based on the sensitivity levels of the information, where the more sensitive information requires higher security measures compared to the less sensitive information. Then, the information classification is applied to the e-health environment, so that our security model can handle the security processes for each classification. <B>Results:</B> The multilayer communication approach or MLC is the proposed security model. MLC classifies communications in e-health into five categories: Layer 1 to Layer 5 representing extremely sensitive, highly sensitive, medium sensitive, low sensitive and no sensitive data. This classification refers to the different sensitivity of the information exchanged during communications. For example, Extremely Sensitive communication involves exchanging extremely sensitive information, which requires highest security mechanisms, while Low Sensitive communication requires lower security mechanism. <B>Conclusion:</B> MLC provides five different types of security needs, where users can flexibly choose their own security preferences for their online communications, which the current technologies are lacking