CUREX: Secure and Private Health Data Exchange

CUREX aspires to build a network of reliable hospitals across Europe, where cross-border health data exchange and remote healthcare services will be performed securely and in a privacy-preserving manner, in line with the GDPR. - Prof. Christos Xenakis, University of Piraeus, Coordinator of the CUREX Project

CUREX implements cybersecurity and privacy risk assessments, whilst optimal recommendations for cyber risk mitigations are offered in the form of a decision support tool. With the single objective of establishing trust between healthcare organisations to address the necessity of data exchange and the anticipation of cyber risks being eliminated to the greatest achievable degree, CUREX offers a suite of tools that make this objective attainable. Each hospital that uses the CUREX platform publishes its cyber and privacy risk scores to a private blockchain, becoming part of the wider network of CUREX hospitals. Once the hospital is reliable, health data exchange is facilitated and controlled by smart contracts in the blockchain.

CUREX: Innovative contribution to the healthcare sector

During the project implementation, the CUREX team was faced a plethora of interrelated and complex problems that need to be comprehensively addressed in healthcare. CUREX research showed that more effort has to be invested in order to deliver tailor-made solutions for the domain, a finding that is unfortunately corroborated by the current global health crisis which has unveiled all the shortcomings that were overlooked until recently.

CUREX project outcomes demonstrate the pressing need for continuous cybersecurity risk assessment and mitigation mechanisms to be incorporated in modern healthcare infrastructures, to ensure the holistic protection of medical data in the post-COVID era.

Healthcare providers as end-users of the CUREX platform can benefit from it in the three major ways:

• By assessing the realistic cybersecurity and privacy risks they are exposed to.

• By receiving suggestions with optimal recommendations for addressing these risks with safeguards tailored specifically for each healthcare organization profile.

• By improving the cyber hygiene culture among personnel through identifying employee group-specific gaps and needs with regards to raising cybersecurity and data privacy awareness.

CUREX can assist healthcare providers in their effort to upgrade their medical services, enhance the resilience of their infrastructure, and ensure compliance with the applicable regulations.

Visit CUREX’s mini-site and find out more about the latest updates, project results and contribution to the healthcare sector.