Research Article
Blockchain Technology: Is It a Good Candidate for
Securing IoT Sensitive Medical Data?
Nabil Rifi,
1,2
Nazim Agoulmine ,
1
Nada Chendeb Taher ,
2
and Elie Rachkidi
1
1
COSMO, IBISC Laboratory, University of Evry, Paris Saclay University, France
2
Lebanese University, Faculty of Engineering and Azm Center for Researches, Tripoli, Lebanon
Correspondenceshouldbe addressedto NazimAgoulmine; nazim.agoulmine@ufrst.univ-evry.fr
Received 15 August 2017; Revised 19 December 2017; Accepted 25 June 2018; Published 5 December 2018
Academic Editor: FernandoDe la Prieta
Copyright ©2018NabilRifetal.TisisanopenaccessarticledistributedundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionLicense,which
permits unrestricteduse,distribution, and reproductionin any medium, provided the original work is properlycited.
Inthepastfewyears,thenumberofwirelessdevicesconnectedtotheInternethasincreasedtoanumberthatcouldreachbillions
in the next few years. While cloud computing is being seen as the solution to process this data, security challenges could not be
addressed solely with this technology. Security problems will continue to increase with such a model, especially for private and
sensitivedatasuchaspersonaldataandmedicaldatacollectedwithmoreandmoresmarterconnecteddevicesconstitutingtheso
called Internet of Tings. As a consequence, there is an urgent need for a fully decentralized peer-to-peer and secure technology
solution to overcome these problems. Te blockchain technology is a promising just-in-time solution that brings the required
propertiestothefeld.However,therearestillchallengestoaddressbeforeusingitinthecontextofIoT. Tispaperdiscussesthese
challenges and proposes a secure IoT architecture for medical data based on blockchain technology. Te solution introduces a
protocol for data access, smart contractsand a publisher-subscribermechanism for notifcation. A simple analytical model is also
presentedtohighlighttheperformanceofthesystem.Animplementationofthesolutionasaproofofconceptisalsopresented.
1. Introduction
IoT is taking over the world; it is estimated that the number
of devices connected to the Internet forming the Internet
of Tings will reach 50 billion by 2020 [1]. One critical
application is the eHealth smart homes. In fact, this technol-
ogy allows monitoring elderly or individuals with diseases
and automatically sending the data to a remote server for
processing by doctors. Tis data is recorded in the so-called
EMR (Electronic Medical Record).
Secure access to this EMR is problematic considering
privacy issues, transparency, etc. Tis is why in order to
develop secure and reliable solutions for eHealth smart
homes, it requires unprecedented coordination and collab-
oration between all pieces of the system. All devices must
work together and be integrated with all other devices, and
all devices must communicate and interact seamlessly with
remote systems and infrastructures in a secure way. Such a
solution is possible, however it can be expensive and time
consuming. Tus, there is a need for new ideas and new
technologies that will drive IoT security towards a more
decentralized model.
Having this huge amount of data, being centralized and
sometimes monitored by one single provider, may create
many problems. Te cloud as a computing/storing technol-
ogy cannot only by itself protect the security and privacy of
its users. Using a decentralized approach for IoT network
security is eventually an interesting way tosolve many of the
challenges IoT technology is facing today. Adopting a peer-
to-peer model to handle billions of transactions between the
billions of interconnected devices will decrease dramatically
the costs of installation and maintenance of data centers
and servers. It will also allow the distribution of storage and
processing power on diferent devices and components of
the network increasing the reliability of the system; e.g., the
failure of one node will not cause the entire network to halt
or collapse.
However, in order to establish well-defned peer-to-peer
communicationprotocols,awholeothersetofchallengeswill
needtobeaddressed,mainlysecurityandprivacy.Somelevel
Hindawi
Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing
Volume 2018, Article ID 9763937, 11 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/9763937