SeaQuanBlock: A Seagull Optimization Based Post-quantum Blockchain Framework for Secure Healthcare Data Management

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) facilitate the management of medical data effectively, but are vulnerable to cybercrime whenever transmitted over open networks. Recently, Blockchain has been used to address problems like centralized failure and inaccessible data storage. However, decentralized models still face challenges in coordinating and integrating scattered medical records effectively. To overcome these limitations, a novel Seagull optimization-based post Quantum Blockchain (SeaQuanBlock) framework has been proposed for securely storing and managing the EHR data. The data is encrypted using a Hybrid Post-Quantum CRYSTAL-Kyber Fully Homomorphic Encryption and the key is generated using the Seagull Optimization Algorithm (SOA). The encrypted data is digitally signed with SPHINCS + and forwarded to the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) off-chain data storage. Additionally, the m-Tendermint consensus mechanism is used for data verification in the consortium Blockchain. The proposed SeaQuanBlock framework is implemented on the Hyperledger Fabric platform to enable secure, permissioned and efficient consortium blockchain management of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Experimental results show that the transaction throughput of the proposed method is 95%, which is higher than that of the existing methods. Similarly, the response time of the proposed method is 17.6%, 22.1% and 35.2% lower than that of Blockchain-Based Secure Access and Sharing (BCAS), Ant Lion-based Advanced Encryption Standard with Blockchain (ALAESB) and Blockchain-assisted secure data management framework (BSDMF) respectively.