Compendium of Health Telematics Projects 94-98 (Draft)
Home Documents Compendium HT Projects 94-98 Updated: Aug 26, 1998 

This is the most recent structured information on this project. Complementary data can be found on previous documents

SIREN

Security in regional networks

Project code: HC 4110
Project value:   KECU
EC contribution:   KECU
Number of partners: 2
Number of countries: 2
Duration:28 months
Starting date: Oct 1, 96
               
Contact: Gunnar Klein
SPRI
Box 70487
107 26 Stockholm
Sweden

Tel: 46 87 02 93 60
Fax: 46 87 02 47 99
E-mail: gunnar.klein@spri.se
Web Site:

Overview

This accompanying measure shall assist health care provider groups using regional health care networks to establish necessary security services required both for protection of patient privacy and to provide legal accountability. SIREN organises a series of tutorial activities in the different European countries and will also provide direct assistance to a few projects that are considering using modern cryptographic techniques.

Purpose and objectives

The scope of this accompanying measure is to assist health care provider groups using regional health care networks to establish necessary security services required both for protection of patient privacy and to provide legal accountability of medical professionals and administrative staff. The activity will cluster the regional health care network projects within the health telematics sector and also target other regional and national user groups operating health care networks. This accompanying measure only has two formal partners but through subcontracting it involves a number of experts from different countries representing in some cases other health telematics projects.

The project will collect experiences from major regional health care networks throughout Europe with regard to security problems and convey good examples of solutions to the user groups.

The activity will use the experiences and services developed within the TrustHealth project for cryptographic security services supporting user authentication as well as digital signatures and confidentiality protection. The experiences from the ISHTAR project on security guidelines will also be channelled through this activity as relevant to the regional networking. The project will provide directed implementation assistance to health telematics projects that would put the security services developed within the TrustHealth project on trial.

The SIREN project shall also create a European forum for exchange of information and for proposing actions at the national and European levels regarding the legal implications of electronic identification and digital documents.

Thus, the project is preparing for the harmonised introduction of security services for health care in Europe specifically focusing on digital signatures that should be ready before the end of the century.

Results

The SIREN accompanying measure started only in October 1996 and the bulk of the activity is still in its planning phase with relatively little result to report. However, the organisation of regional activities has started with the building of a network of contacts from leading networking projects, not only in Europe, but also from some overseas countries, notably Canada, Australia, Argentina and South Africa.

The dissemination of information has started through seminars conducted by the SIREN experts. Such activities were held in Thessaloniki with the MIE conference, May 1997, in London, July 1997, in Sydney in August 1997, in Stockholm September 1997 and in Brussels November 1997.

These activities will continue in 1998 in several European countries and a workshop is planned also for the IMIA world congress in Korea August 1998.

SIREN has started to prepare a booklet on "Case studies of security problems and their solution" with contributors from several regional projects as well as security experts.

The legal studies of work package 4 organised an important workshop in Hannover in December 1996 with some of Europe’s leading experts on computers and law. A report on a general model of document concepts has been prepared. The legal work continues with analyses of various national situations and proposals for European harmonisation.

List of deliverables

D2.1 Report on the establishment of all regional reference centres
D2.2 Conference presentation
D2.3 Educational material
D4.1 Models of document concepts in law

List of participants

Name: Gunnar Klein
Organisation: Spri
Address: Box 70487, Hornsgatan 20, S-107 26 Stockholm
Country: Sweden
Tel: +46-8-702 400
Fax: +46-8-702 47 99
E-mail: gunnar@klein.se
Name: Klaus Labuhn
Organisation: PCLS
Address: Berliner Allé 20, D-30175 Hannover
Country: Germany
Tel: +49-511-380 22 12
Fax: 49-511-380 22 40

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