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<article article-type="Research Article">
  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">journal-of-information-and-optimization-sciences</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title>Journal of Information and Optimization Sciences</journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn publication-format="electronic">2169-0103</issn>
      <issn publication-format="print">0252-2667</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Taru Publications</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.47974/JIOS-2505</article-id>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Post-quantum secure audit trails for healthcare compliance</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
          <name>
            <surname>Mahajan</surname>
            <given-names>Nikhilchandra</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Emergency Medicine, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Krishna Vishwa Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University), Karad, Maharashtra, 415539, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Singh</surname>
            <given-names>Tanya</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>School of Engineering and Technology, Noida International University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 201312, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Rani</surname>
            <given-names>D. Sandhya</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Computer Science and Engineering (Artificial Intelligence &amp; Machine Learning), Vardhaman College of Engineering, Shamshabad, Hyderabad, Telangana, 501218, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Dhabliya</surname>
            <given-names>Dharmesh</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Information Technology, Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, Maharashtra, 411048, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Kasthuri</surname>
            <given-names>K.</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Biochemistry, Meenakshi Medical College Hospital and Research Institute, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education &amp; Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 631552, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Rajeswari</surname>
            <given-names>G.  V.</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Computer Science and Engineering (Artificial Intelligence &amp; Machine Learning), Pragati Engineering College, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, 533437, India</aff>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <volume>47</volume>
      <issue>10</issue>
      <fpage>3813</fpage>
      <lpage>3823</lpage>
      <pub-date date-type="pub">
        <day>31</day>
        <month>10</month>
        <year>2026</year>
      </pub-date>
      <abstract>
        <p>Audit trails are more and more seen as a key to healthcare compliance, and it is now essential that those audit trails are confidential, verifiable and quantum-resistant. This study presents a module-lattice signature hash-chain linking authenticated encryption and trusted time-stamping based audit framework that is secure against attacks in the post-quantum era. All the clinical events are coded, signed, time-stamped and linked to the previous events, which allows for identification of tamper, event provenance and accountable access. The formal security is guaranteed by probability spaces for unforgeability, collision resistance, confidentiality and forward integrity with respect to quantum adversaries. Experimental comparison with classical based audit schemes using RSA and elliptic curve indicate a verification accuracy of 98.7%, 29.6% less storage overhead and 37.4% faster batch validation when compared to a lattice-based baseline design. The framework offers a flexible approach to the preservation of evidence about eHRs, regulatory audits, medico-legal cases, and more, and it can adapt to healthcare interoperability and compliance needs in the long term.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group>
        <kwd>Post-quantum cryptography</kwd>
        <kwd>Healthcare compliance</kwd>
        <kwd>Secure audit trails</kwd>
        <kwd>Module-lattice signatures</kwd>
        <kwd>Hash chains</kwd>
        <kwd>Time-stamping</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
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          <meta-name>access</meta-name>
          <meta-value>open</meta-value>
        </custom-meta>
        <custom-meta>
          <meta-name>retracted</meta-name>
          <meta-value>no</meta-value>
        </custom-meta>
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    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
