A new mechanism for re-signing electronic signatures promises to increase the number of years data and images can be safely stored, according to German researchers.
A new mechanism for re-signing electronic signatures promises to increase the number of years data and images can be safely stored, according to German researchers.
Current legislation in most European Union countries requires that digital images be stored securely for up to 30 years for liability purposes, necessitating the development of procedures for re-signing electronic signatures.
Currently, electronic signatures normally expire after only five years.
"This is the challenge archive providers face," said Peter Pharow, Ph.D., of the department of health informatics and health telematics at University Hospital Magdeburg in Germany.
Pharow proposes a re-signing mechanism that addresses this issue, in the process guaranteeing accessibility, integrity, accountability, and availability of the data over long periods (Int J Med Inform 2005;74(2-4):279-287).
The five-year electronic signature lifetime is not related so much to the cryptographic algorithm itself as it is to the likelihood that new methods of attack will have been developed.
Before the official five-year expiration date, data items stored in electronic archives must therefore be re-signed in order to ensure security, Pharow said.
Two options are available to perform re-signing:
Generally, the second method is preferable since it means that the content remains unchanged, confidentiality is not compromised, and another valid signature is merely added as a new shell.
"The advantage of this procedure is obvious," Pharow said. "The electronic signature of the originator remains unchanged, so origination of medical content can be proved even decades later."
The only problem with this technique is the need to keep all signature certificates in a special part of the directory tree even if they are eligible for revocation after expiration. A mechanism to address this issue has been defined in the standardized multipart, multipurpose Internet mail extensions approach that allows files to carry multiple types of data as attachments, Pharow said.
MRI-Based AI Radiomics Model Offers 'Robust' Prediction of Perineural Invasion in Prostate Cancer
July 26th 2024A model that combines MRI-based deep learning radiomics and clinical factors demonstrated an 84.8 percent ROC AUC and a 92.6 percent precision-recall AUC for predicting perineural invasion in prostate cancer cases.
Breast MRI Study Examines Common Factors with False Negatives and False Positives
July 24th 2024The absence of ipsilateral breast hypervascularity is three times more likely to be associated with false-negative findings on breast MRI and non-mass enhancement lesions have a 4.5-fold likelihood of being linked to false-positive results, according to new research.
Can Polyenergetic Reconstruction Help Resolve Streak Artifacts in Photon Counting CT?
July 22nd 2024New research looking at photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT) demonstrated significantly reduced variation and tracheal air density attenuation with polyenergetic reconstruction in contrast to monoenergetic reconstruction on chest CT.