Multi-Layered Access Control for Healthcare Datasets
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional data access techniques for healthcare datasets lack effective privacy-specific settings, leading to inadequate access control and security, particularly for geographically dispersed data, and are time-consuming and inefficient, often resulting in incomplete permission models that restrict user searches and limit access to specific countries.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method and system that employs a permissions platform to manage multi-layered access control policies, using a master policy that integrates information, organization, and user account policies to determine access permissions, allowing administrators to control access based on defined permissions and restricting access geographically and temporally, while ensuring privacy and security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional authentication techniques (passwords, challenge questions, ACLs) are used for data access control, then implementation is simple and familiar, but access control is insufficient for geographically-dispersed datasets and lacks privacy-specific settings
Solution Approach 1:
The access control system is segmented into multiple independent components: geographic location verification, temporal window validation, device fingerprinting, and policy rule evaluation. Each component handles a specific aspect of access control, allowing the system to provide comprehensive protection without requiring a monolithic complex structure
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds new dimensions to access control beyond traditional username/password authentication. It incorporates geographic location (spatial dimension), time of access (temporal dimension), and device characteristics (hardware dimension), creating a multi-dimensional access control framework that significantly enhances security
2Reliability
If privacy-specific settings are implemented to control access to healthcare data, then data security and privacy protection are improved, but access control becomes time-consuming and effort-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing policy rules that define acceptable access patterns, geographic locations, and temporal windows before access requests occur. These pre-configured rules enable automatic real-time evaluation of access requests without requiring time-consuming manual review
Solution Approach 2:
The access control system operates autonomously by automatically verifying user credentials, checking geographic location, validating time windows, and making access decisions based on pre-configured policies. This self-service capability eliminates the need for manual administrative intervention in routine access control operations
3Adaptability or versatility
If conventional ACL-based authorization is used, then implementation is straightforward, but users are limited to accessing data within a single country and cannot access geographically-dispersed datasets
Solution Approach 1:
The access control system is designed with universal functionality that can handle multiple types of access control requirements through a single unified framework. It simultaneously supports traditional ACL-based access, geographic location-based access, temporal-based access, and device fingerprinting, making the system adaptable to diverse scenarios without requiring separate systems
4Productivity
If incomplete permission models are implemented due to time and effort constraints, then implementation is faster and easier, but user searches are limited and access control is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces policy rules as intermediary elements that bridge the gap between simple implementation and comprehensive access control. These policy rules serve as configurable templates that encode complex access control logic, allowing the system to provide complete and reliable access control while maintaining ease of implementation through rule-based management
Data Source
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AI summary
A method and system to provide multi-layered access control for healthcare datasets are disclosed. The method comprises receiving a query from a user to access one or more healthcare datasets, wherein each of the healthcare datasets has an owner that controls access to their respective healthcare dataset. Further, for each of the one or more healthcare datasets, an access control permission for the user is identified, wherein the identified access control permission is based on a master policy, wherein the master policy provides authority to one or more administrators to determine whether access should be provided based on the identified access control permission. Thereafter, whether the user should be permitted access to the one or more healthcare datasets is determined based on the identified access control permission. Subsequently, user access is either provided or not provided to the one or more healthcare datasets based on the determination of the access determination