Privacy-preserving medical image encryption based on blockchain and IPFS in 6G-enabled healthcare systems
Soufian El Airaj, Salma Bendaoud, Fatima Amounas, Mourade Azrour, Mohamed Badiy, Abdulatif Alabdulatif, Abdullah M. Alnajim · EDPACS · 2025
The rapid development of 6 G communications technology promises to transform healthcare, ensuring breakthroughs in telemedicine, remote surgery, and real-time patient monitoring. However, the sensitive nature of medical data requires strong cyber security measures to guard against cyber threats as several problems in the past few decades have threatened patient information privacy. Additionally, as the attack surface expands, existing encryption protocols often fall short, underscoring the need for stronger cryptographic techniques in modern digital systems. One of the advanced solutions in this field involves integrating blockchain technology with encryption methods to build intelligent and secure healthcare systems in the 6 G communication era. In this context, this research proposes a lightweight framework for reliable storage and transmission in IoMT networks using AES encryption with SHA-256–based blockchain and the Interplanetary File System (IPFS). The experiments were performed on various medical images and utilized several analysis techniques to prove the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. Performance tests show that the framework achieves high encryption efficiency with minimal latency and low computational overhead, making it ideally suited for 6 G- enabled healthcare systems. By incorporating advanced cryptographic techniques, the framework enhances the protection of medical data while simultaneously improving access to it, thus ensuring confidentiality and enabling smooth and efficient healthcare delivery.