A novel implementation of signature,encryption and authentication (SEA) protocol on mobile patient monitoring devices

Abstract

Mobile patient monitoring devices are becoming an integral part of healthcare industry and these devices will eventually become the method of choice for accessing and implementing health checks for patients located in remote areas. The thrust behind this research work was to investigate how a complete security strategy, comprising of digital signatures, encryption and authorisation on the mobile healthcare devices could be implemented without compromising overall system performance. Java 2, Micro Edition (J2ME) platform has been used to implement the Signature, Encryption and Authentication (SEA) protocol based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). The work presented highlights a practical, secure and effective prototype for interactive monitoring of remote patients. The proposed facilities could improve the quality of care and doctor-patient communications; prevent misuse of healthcare data and consequential expenses to the healthcare industry in an efficient user friendly way that does not significantly affect the device performance.