A MITRE D3FEND guided blockchain based cyber resilient framework for IPv6 based 6G enabled healthcare networks.

Area of Science:

• Cybersecurity
• Network Security
• Healthcare Technology

Background:

• The expansion of Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) in 6G healthcare networks presents significant cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
• Traditional security models are insufficient for the complex, real-time demands of IoMT environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate a novel Blockchain-Enabled Zero-Trust Architecture (B-ZTA) for securing 6G IoMT healthcare networks.
• To address challenges like expanded attack surfaces, device heterogeneity, and real-time security needs.

Main Methods:

• Developed a B-ZTA framework integrating Zero Trust micro-segmentation, a Random Forest-based intrusion detection system, and a Proof-of-Authority blockchain.
• Utilized MATLAB simulations with 62 devices across 30 trials under various cyberattack scenarios.
• Guided by the MITRE D3FEND defensive ontology for policy enforcement.

Main Results:

• Achieved a 99.10% Threat Neutralization Rate.
• Demonstrated a mean enforcement latency of 76.68 ms and 95th percentile latency of 249.86 ms, meeting 6G latency requirements for IoMT.
• Attained a composite security score of 91.8 when benchmarked against five state-of-the-art frameworks.

Conclusions:

• The proposed B-ZTA shows significant promise for enhancing IoMT cybersecurity in simulated 6G healthcare environments.
• Future work should focus on physical testbed validation and adversarial robustness evaluation.