Securing mHealth - Investigating the development of a novel information security framework

The deployment of Mobile Health (mHealth) platforms as well as the use of mobile and wireless technologies have significant potential to transform healthcare services. The use of mHealth technologies allow a real-time remote monitoring as well as direct access to healthcare data so that users (e.g., patients and healthcare professionals) can utilise mHealth services anywhere and anytime. Generally, mHealth offers smart solutions to tackle challenges in healthcare. However, there are still various issues regarding the development of the mHealth system. One of the most common diffi-culties in developing the mHealth system is the security of healthcare data. mHealth systems are still vulnerable to numerous security issues with regard to their weak-nesses in design and data management. Several information security frameworks for mHealth devices as well as information security frameworks for Cloud storage have been proposed, however, the major challenge is developing an effective information se-curity framework that will encompass every component of an mHealth system to secure sensitive healthcare data. This research investigates how healthcare data is managed in mHealth systems and proposes a new information security framework that secures mHealth systems. Moreover, a prototype is developed for the purpose of testing the proposed information security framework. Firstly, risk identification is carried out to determine what could happen to cause potential damage and to gain insight into how, where, and why the damage might happen. The process of risk identification includes the identification of assets those need to be protected, threats that we try to protect against, and vulnerabilities that are weaknesses in mHealth systems. Afterward, a detailed analysis of the entire mHealth domain is undertaken to determine domain-specific features and a taxonomy for mHealth, from which a set of the most essential security requirements is identified to develop a new information security framework. It then examines existing information security frameworks for mHealth devices and the Cloud, noting similarities and differences. Key mechanisms to implement the new framework are discussed and the new framework is then presented. Furthermore, a prototype is developed for the purpose of testing. It consists of four layers including an mHealth secure storage system, Capability system, Secure transactional layer, and Service management layer. Capability system, Secure transactional layer, and Service management layer are developed as main contributions of the research.