Securing fog computing in healthcare with a zero-trust approach and blockchain
Abstract As healthcare systems increasingly adopt fog computing to improve responsiveness and real-time data processing at the edge, significant security challenges emerge due to the decentralized architecture. The traditional perimeter-based security models are inadequate for addressing the dynamic...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2025-02-01
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| Series: | EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13638-025-02431-6 |
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| author | Navjeet Kaur Ayush Mittal Umesh Kumar Lilhore Sarita Simaiya Surjeet Dalal Kashif Saleem Ehab Seif Ghith |
| author_facet | Navjeet Kaur Ayush Mittal Umesh Kumar Lilhore Sarita Simaiya Surjeet Dalal Kashif Saleem Ehab Seif Ghith |
| author_sort | Navjeet Kaur |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract As healthcare systems increasingly adopt fog computing to improve responsiveness and real-time data processing at the edge, significant security challenges emerge due to the decentralized architecture. The traditional perimeter-based security models are inadequate for addressing the dynamic and distributed nature of fog networks, leaving them vulnerable to unauthorized access, data tampering, and latency issues. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel security framework that integrates blockchain (BC) and software-defined network (SDN) technologies, underpinned by zero-trust (ZT) principles, to address these challenges in latency-sensitive healthcare environments. The proposed framework enhances security by combining BC’s immutable transaction logs for data integrity and traceability with SDN’s dynamic network reconfiguration for real-time access control and anomaly detection. The integration of BC and SDN supports continuous authentication and monitoring using cryptographic protocols (SHA-256A and RSA-2048) to secure data transmission. Additionally, tasks are dynamically allocated to fog nodes based on a multi-metric scheduling mechanism that considers fog node capacity, proximity, and compliance with predefined security protocols. The framework was evaluated using iFogSim, simulating a healthcare environment with 50 IoT devices, 10 fog nodes, and varying workloads (100–1000 tasks/min). The key evaluation performance metrics include intrusion detection rate (IDR), data integrity (DI), task completion rate (TCR), average task response time (ART), and average block time. The implementation results demonstrate satisfactory improvements compared to existing models: a 40% increase in IDR, a 30% enhancement in DI, a 15.29% rise in TCR, and a 39.66% reduction in ART. Moreover, the baseline IDR (85%) and DI (70%) were drawn from ZT-1, while TCR (85%) and ART (300 ms) were measured using ZT-2 as benchmarks. These findings illustrate the feasibility of integrating BC, SDN, and ZT principles to mitigate threats such as unauthorized access, data tampering, and delays in latency-sensitive tasks. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ccae2ad2dedc43558d75394fad7443b8 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1687-1499 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking |
| spelling | doaj-art-ccae2ad2dedc43558d75394fad7443b82025-02-09T12:04:33ZengSpringerOpenEURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking1687-14992025-02-012025112910.1186/s13638-025-02431-6Securing fog computing in healthcare with a zero-trust approach and blockchainNavjeet Kaur0Ayush Mittal1Umesh Kumar Lilhore2Sarita Simaiya3Surjeet Dalal4Kashif Saleem5Ehab Seif Ghith6Apex Institute of Technology (CSE), Chandigarh UniversityInfosys LimitedDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, Galgotia UniversityDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, Galgotia UniversityDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, Amity UniversityDepartment of Computer Science & Engineering, College of Applied Studies & Community Service, King Saud UniversityDepartment of Mechatronics, Faculty of Engineering, An Shams UniversityAbstract As healthcare systems increasingly adopt fog computing to improve responsiveness and real-time data processing at the edge, significant security challenges emerge due to the decentralized architecture. The traditional perimeter-based security models are inadequate for addressing the dynamic and distributed nature of fog networks, leaving them vulnerable to unauthorized access, data tampering, and latency issues. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel security framework that integrates blockchain (BC) and software-defined network (SDN) technologies, underpinned by zero-trust (ZT) principles, to address these challenges in latency-sensitive healthcare environments. The proposed framework enhances security by combining BC’s immutable transaction logs for data integrity and traceability with SDN’s dynamic network reconfiguration for real-time access control and anomaly detection. The integration of BC and SDN supports continuous authentication and monitoring using cryptographic protocols (SHA-256A and RSA-2048) to secure data transmission. Additionally, tasks are dynamically allocated to fog nodes based on a multi-metric scheduling mechanism that considers fog node capacity, proximity, and compliance with predefined security protocols. The framework was evaluated using iFogSim, simulating a healthcare environment with 50 IoT devices, 10 fog nodes, and varying workloads (100–1000 tasks/min). The key evaluation performance metrics include intrusion detection rate (IDR), data integrity (DI), task completion rate (TCR), average task response time (ART), and average block time. The implementation results demonstrate satisfactory improvements compared to existing models: a 40% increase in IDR, a 30% enhancement in DI, a 15.29% rise in TCR, and a 39.66% reduction in ART. Moreover, the baseline IDR (85%) and DI (70%) were drawn from ZT-1, while TCR (85%) and ART (300 ms) were measured using ZT-2 as benchmarks. These findings illustrate the feasibility of integrating BC, SDN, and ZT principles to mitigate threats such as unauthorized access, data tampering, and delays in latency-sensitive tasks.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13638-025-02431-6BlockchainFog computingSecuritySoftware-defined networksTask schedulingZero trust |
| spellingShingle | Navjeet Kaur Ayush Mittal Umesh Kumar Lilhore Sarita Simaiya Surjeet Dalal Kashif Saleem Ehab Seif Ghith Securing fog computing in healthcare with a zero-trust approach and blockchain EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking Blockchain Fog computing Security Software-defined networks Task scheduling Zero trust |
| title | Securing fog computing in healthcare with a zero-trust approach and blockchain |
| title_full | Securing fog computing in healthcare with a zero-trust approach and blockchain |
| title_fullStr | Securing fog computing in healthcare with a zero-trust approach and blockchain |
| title_full_unstemmed | Securing fog computing in healthcare with a zero-trust approach and blockchain |
| title_short | Securing fog computing in healthcare with a zero-trust approach and blockchain |
| title_sort | securing fog computing in healthcare with a zero trust approach and blockchain |
| topic | Blockchain Fog computing Security Software-defined networks Task scheduling Zero trust |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13638-025-02431-6 |
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