Implementation of Security Algorithms for u-Health Monitoring System

Data security in u-Health system can be an important issue because wireless network is vulnerable to hacking. However, it is not easy to implement a proper security algorithm in an embedded u-health monitoring because of hardware constraints such as low performance, power consumption and limited memory size and etc. To secure data that contain personal and biosignal information, we implemented several security algorithms such as Blowfish, data encryption standard (DES), advanced encryption standard (AES) and Rivest Cipher 4 (RC4) for our u-Health monitoring system and the results were successful. Under the same experimental conditions, we compared these algorithms. RC4 had the fastest execution time. Memory usage was the most efficient for DES. However, considering performance and safety capability, however, we concluded that AES was the most appropriate algorithm for a personal u-Health monitoring system.




References:
[1] P. J. Feldstein, Health care Economics, New York: Delmar, 2011, ch. 10.
[2] K. Yamakoshi, "Unconstrained physiological monitoring in daily living
for health care," Frontiers Med. Biol. Eng., vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 139-159,
Sep. 2000.
[3] K. H. Lee, "Application of u-Health to Emergency Medical Service
System," J. Korean Med. Assoc. Eng., vol. 52, no. 12, pp. 1148-1153,
Dec. 2009.
[4] K. Jeong, E-Y Jung, and D. K. Park, "Trend of wireless u-Health," in 9th
symposium on Communications and Information Technology 2009
(ISCIT 2009), Incheon, Korea, 2009, pp. 829-833.
[5] H. S. Ng, M. L. Sim, and C. M. Tan, "Security issues of wireless sensor
networks in healthcare applications," BT Technology Journal, vol. 24, no.
2, pp. 138-144, April 2006.
[6] W. Shin, Y. D. Cha, and G. Yoon, "ECG/PPG integer signal processing
for a ubiquitous health monitoring system," Journal of medical systems,
vol. 34, no.5, pp. 891-898, May. 2009.
[7] Y. D. Cha, and G. Yoon, "Ubiquitous health monitoring system using
Zigbee and wireless LAN dual-network," Telemedicine and e-health, vol.
15, no.9, pp. 891-897, Nov. 2009.
[8] Y-G Lee, and G. Yoon, "Smartphone-based Mobile Health Monitoring
System for Multiple Users", accepted, Telemedicine and e-health.
[9] B. Schneier, "Description of a New Variable-Length Key, 64-Bit Block
Cipher (Blowfish)," in Fast Software Encryption (FSE-93). vol. 809,
LNCS 809, New York: Springer-Verlag, 1994, pp. 191-204.
[10] F.I.P. Standard, "Data Encryption Standard (DES)," National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST), FIPS 46-3, Oct 1999
[11] K. Wu, R. Karri, G. Kuznetsov, and M. Goessel, "Low cost concurrent
error detection for the advanced encryption standard," in International
Test Conf. (ITC2004), pp. 1242-1248.
[12] P. Prasithsangaree, and P. Krishnamurthy, "Analysis of Energy
Consumption of RC4 and AES Algorithms in Wireless LANs," in IEEE
Global Telecommunications Conf. (GLOBECOM ÔÇÿ 03), pp. 1445-1449.
[13] Scott R. Fluhrer, Itsik Mantin and Adi Shamir, "Weaknesses in the Key
Scheduling Algorithm of RC4," in Selected Areas in Cryptography 2001,
pp. 1 - 24.