[44152] in Cypherpunks
Re: Medical Records
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Adam Shostack)
Wed Nov 29 14:14:38 1995
From: Adam Shostack <adam@homeport.org>
To: EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU (E. ALLEN SMITH)
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 1995 14:09:04 -0500 (EST)
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com
In-Reply-To: <01HY7U2Z5PSG8WYVEV@mbcl.rutgers.edu> from "E. ALLEN SMITH" at Nov 29, 95 01:37:00 pm
It seems that they use signatures & hashes; nice work, a good
advance for medical records storage, but I'd ask how keys are managed,
and also what prevents me exploiting the 'hash-only' mode of sending
in what I'm cliaming to be is an emergency. (Not that these
invalidate the system; they're just interesting areas to work on.)
E. ALLEN SMITH wrote:
| "We have to make sure that the digital information and images are not
| altered accidentally or surreptitiously," Wong said. "In addition,
| x-rays and other imaging studies are part of the patient's medical
| record and must be protected from unauthorized access."
|
| The system uses mathematical formulas or codes to scramble the images
| through encryption. It involves a "two-key" system -- one code enables
| public access but a second, private code is required to unscramble the
| information.
|
| The private code, known only to the individual to whom the information
| is transmitted, is 1,024 computer bits long, Wong said.
|
| In emergencies where fast transmission is needed, the unscrambled
| image is transmitted with a digital "fingerprint," a smaller code that
| assures the intended viewer that no one has altered the original
| image.
--
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."
-Hume
