Application of Homomorphic Encryption for Encrypting and Decrypting Patient Data in Thailand's Healthcare System

Homomorphic Encryption (HE) is an advanced cryptographic technique in computer science that enables the processing of encrypted data without the need for decryption. It is a significant component of Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) aimed at ensuring the privacy and security of data. This study aims to explore and evaluate the capabilities of HE when applied to patient data within a healthcare system, providing valuable insights for the effective implementation of HE. The research involves creating a simulated environment that leverages the TenSEAL Library to utilize HE, and a dataset comprising patient information, which includes numerical, textual data, and Thai characters. The study employs Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) with the CKKS scheme. The results indicate that the performance of data encryption and decryption using FHE CKKS is highly accurate. This depends on the appropriate setting of the context modulus parameter. CKKS encryption demonstrates a strong ability to handle both numerical data and text encryption effectively, maintaining high accuracy of the processed data. However, handling textual data requires further refinement in parameter settings and managing complex encryption processes. In conclusion, HE shows significant potential for protecting patient data in healthcare systems. This study lays a solid foundation for further research and development to enhance the suitability and efficiency of HE technology in the future.