Security analysis and trends in signcryption for WBAN: A research study

• Published in: Peer-to-peer networking and applications Vol. 17; no. 6; pp. 3780 - 3814
• Main Authors: K, Divya Keerthana, S, Sree Nidhi, A, Aarthi, D, Sridharan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-11-2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biosensors; Blood pressure; Body area networks; Body temperature; Communication; Communications Engineering; Computer Communication Networks; Data transmission; Digital signatures; Electrocardiography; Engineering; Global positioning systems; GPS; Health care; Information Systems and Communication Service; Medical research; Monitoring systems; Network topologies; Networks; Peer to peer computing; Personal digital assistants; Physiology; Privacy; Remote monitoring; Sensors; Signal,Image and Speech Processing; Special Issue on 2 - Track on Security and Privacy; Telemedicine; Transplants & implants; Trends; WBAN; Signcryption; Healthcare; Sensor node; Security
• ISSN: 1936-6442; 1936-6450
• DOI: 10.1007/s12083-024-01745-4

The necessity for an advanced health monitoring system within healthcare systems has instigated the evolution of Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs). It serves as a tool predominantly employed in diagnosing and addressing patient's health concerns through treatments. Securing highly confidential and sensitive patient data collected through sensors within WBANs is crucial, necessitating robust measures to prevent various forms of adversarial attacks and unauthorized access, mainly due to its critical role in healthcare applications. Hence, signcryption security is essential for ensuring the protection of medical information within WBANs. This research presents a novel perspective apart from existing investigations on signcryption, addressing a gap in the literature. The study thoroughly analyzes signcryption-based WBAN protocols to contribute valuable insights to the field. Recent signcryption literature has been assessedorganization, equipped with the master key to analyze WBAN architecture, security requirements, and critical challenges within WBANs to fulfill the outlined objectives. This review aims to perform a comparative analysis of existing signcryption security solutions and analyze the existing proposed security solutions for WBANs. The techniques were compared with the existing signcryption methods, aiming to comprehend the security issues and their underlying motives. Furthermore, it highlights the research challenges encountered in the security dimensions of signcryption in WBAN, establishing the foundation for future avenues of investigation in this rapidly developing sector of health monitoring technology. The survey aims to serve as a benchmark for researchers and application developers, offering reference points for further exploration in the field.