BeepTrace: Solution to privacy issues in Covid19 contact tracing
Blockchain technologies more effective than regular contact tracing to curb pandemic Technology September 29, 2020 Through BeepTrace, each user is assigned a randomly-generated anonymous ID, which changes regularly to prevent tracking or identification
With aggregated phone tracking helping governments fight coronavirus, the next wave of technology is digital contract tracing.However, due to the nature of contact tracing, privacy is a major concern, significantly affecting uptake of contact tracing applications across the globe.Blockchain app, Beep Trace offers a solution to privacy issues.
The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic has exposed an urgent need for effective contact tracing solutions through mobile phone applications to prevent the infection from spreading further.Most of the applications combine Bluetooth’s Relative Signal Strength Indicator (BRSSI), a duration timer and a masked identifier to timeline those coming into potential contact with new Covid-19 patients.Unfortunately, these apps also require a huge percentage of a country’s population to voluntarily install them to be effective which doesn’t happen due to issues of privacy and data leakage.
Researchers at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, have proposed a new mobile-based system, named BeepTrace.
A blockchain-enabled privacy-preserving contact tracing scheme BeepTrace proposes to adopt block-chain bridging the user/patient and the authorised solvers to desensitise the user ID and location information.
Blockchain is best known for its application in crypto currencies like Bitcoin, where it facilitates secure financial transactions between individuals without the involvement of central banks.However, it is also in use in a wide range of other environments, including healthcare, supply chain management and information and communications technology.
In a paper published in the IEEE Internet of Things Journal recently, engineers from the university outline how a trustworthy contact tracing system could be built on the unique properties of blockchain technology.In addition to that, the developers of the app also say that Traditional track and trace methods, which involve healthcare staff personally contacting every infected person, are effective but very time-intensive and rely on the ability of the patient to correctly remember everyone they have recently interacted with.“Beep Traceis an app capable of mapping how infected people have interacted with others can help make the process faster and more accurate,” says Dr Lei Zhang, journal’s lead author and academic at University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering.
“Compared with recently proposed contract tracing solutions, this approach shows higher security and privacy with the additional advantages of being battery friendly and globally accessible.Results show viability in terms of the required resource at both server and mobile phone perspectives.
Through breaking the privacy concerns of the public, the BeepTrace solution can provide a timely framework for authorities, companies, software developers and researchers to fast develop and deploy effective digital contact tracing applications, to conquer Covid-19 pandemic soon,” Dr Zhang adds.
Through BeepTrace, each user is assigned a randomly-generated anonymous ID, which changes regularly to prevent tracking or identification.If they test positive for Covid-19, their healthcare provider notes their infection on the blockchain using the IDs stored on the app over the last 14 days.Any other BeepTrace user who has been in contact with them during that time will receive a notification.
Since only healthcare professionals can update the blockchain with details of infection, there is little risk of misinformation being spread by users mistakenly or maliciously marking themselves as having tested positive.
The app regularly checks the locally-held information about contacts against the information in the blockchain.When news of infection is added to the blockchain, the app pushes a warning notification to everyone who has been in recent contact with the infected person without disclosing their identity.
“The most important thing from a privacy point of view, though, is that users’ personal data is always kept secure, and the app only lets users themselves know that they have been in contact with someone with a confirmed case of coronavirus,” adds Dr Zhang.
BeepTrace has already garnered attention from researchers, private companies and governments around the world.If the first larger-scale trial on the University of Glasgow campus is a success, the team hope that a final version of the app could be completed and ready for use by the end of 2020.
Currently, the open initiative of BeepTrace allows worldwide collaborations, integrating existing tracing and positioning solutions with the help of blockchain technology.
Professor Muhammad Imran leads the research group from which the BeepTrace papers are drawn.
Imran says “Although we’re developing it as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the underlying principles are applicable to any type of healthcare data security.”
“There could be a future pandemic similar to the one we’re living through now and it could also be used to safeguard the public’s personal data as health services move towards more data-driven interventions.Data from wearable health monitors, for example, could be uploaded and safely stored for secure sharing with GPs in the future to build a more complete picture of patients’ everyday wellbeing,” Imran sums up..