SMART-DEFENSE: 3D hexagonal federated network for systematic attack detection in blockchain-integrated healthcare environment

Abstract

Ensuring the security of healthcare systems is crucial for protecting sensitive patient data from breaches and unauthorized access, thereby preserving confidentiality and maintaining trust in medical institutions. Robust security measures are also vital in preventing medical identity theft, which can result in fraudulent treatments and financial losses for patients. However, existing security frameworks often suffer from critical shortcomings, including weak encryption methods, inadequate access controls, and ineffective incident response mechanisms, leaving systems vulnerable to cyber threats. Additionally, many traditional security solutions lack adaptability to emerging technologies such as telemedicine and the Internet of Things (IoT), which introduce new attack vectors if not properly managed. To address these challenges, we introduce SMART-DEFENSE (Secure Medical Architecture for Resilient Trust and Dynamic Encryption in Federated Edge Networks with Security Enhancements), a novel defense model specifically designed for smart healthcare environments. The proposed framework consists of key components, including medical IoT devices, a Detective Gateway (DG), Edge Servers with Honeypot (HES), a Blockchain-assisted Cloud Server (BCS), and a Trust Integrity Authority (TIA). To enhance scalability, a 3D hexagonal-based network architecture (3D-Hexa) is implemented as the foundation of the system. Security is reinforced through Decentralized Identity Management and Dynamic Trust Scoring, incorporating Shuffled Pass Points (SPP) for authentication and Optimizer-based Trust Evaluation (OTE) via the DG. To improve threat detection accuracy, Stratified Federated Learning (SFL) is employed within the HES, enabling a collaborative defense mechanism against cyberattacks. Finally, Chaotic Encryption Blockchain (CEB) ensures secure data management by strengthening both privacy and integrity. By integrating these cutting-edge technologies, SMART-DEFENSE provides a comprehensive, resilient, and scalable security framework for smart healthcare achieving a 28.5 % reduction in False Acceptance Rate, a 16.9 % increase in authentication success rate, and a 4.15 % improvement in trust evaluation accuracy over existing models effectively mitigating cyber threats while ensuring the privacy and reliability of healthcare data.