A ZKP-based anonymous biometric authentication scheme for the E-health systems

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Information Security
• Biometrics

Background:

• E-health systems face significant data privacy and network security challenges.
• Secure and reliable data sharing between patients and healthcare providers is crucial but difficult to achieve.
• Existing authentication methods may not adequately protect sensitive health information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel anonymous authentication scheme for e-health environments.
• To enhance privacy-preserving data sharing and secure authentication in healthcare.
• To address the critical concerns of data privacy and network security in e-health adoption.

Main Methods:

• Developed a biometric-based zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) scheme using the Pedersen vector commitment algorithm.
• Integrated multimodal cancelable biometrics (MCBG) using fingerprint, face, and iris modalities.
• Conducted a detailed security analysis to evaluate scheme properties like anonymity, authenticity, and unlinkability.

Main Results:

• The proposed scheme ensures enhanced security and privacy-preserving authentication.
• Multimodal biometrics strengthen the verification process against unauthorized access.
• Security analysis confirmed resistance to replay attacks and forward security.
• Experimental results showed stable proving (approx. 78ms) and verification (approx. 140ms) times.

Conclusions:

• The novel ZKP and MCBG integrated scheme offers an efficient and practical solution for secure e-health authentication.
• The system effectively addresses privacy and security concerns in e-health data sharing.
• The proposed method provides robust security features essential for modern healthcare systems.