Data Provenance for healthcare: a blockchain-based approach

Abstract

With the advent of Industry 4.0, information has become a key aspect for virtually any system. Critical infrastructures haven't been excluded by this technological revolution, which has led to several advantages in terms of communication, interoperability, and scalability. On the other hand, these systems are now targeted by new attacks, previously exclusive to cybersystems. The potential of data violation ranges from the interruption of the service provided to, in the worst cases, disastrous consequences in environmental, economic and safety terms. Consequently, ensuring data reliability is an essential task to prevent these kinds of attacks. Data provenance, a kind of metadata that identifies the derivation history of a data, can provide a possible solution. This paper aims to discuss solutions for a tamper proof data provenance extended, but not limited, to the healthcare scenario. The proposed approach is based on blockchain technology to ensure protection of sensitive data, such as medical records and healthcare data.