Article Details

Abstract

The Modbus protocol is widely deployed in various health-care monitoring terminals, but it suffers from inherent security vulnerabilities. Traditional protection schemes with separated encryption and signature incur excessive computational overhead and fail to meet the resource constraints and real-time transmission requirements of terminals. This paper proposes a certificateless signcryption security enhancement mechanism oriented to health-care scenarios, which embeds signcryption logic into the protocol data field without modifying the original frame structure of Modbus. Test results demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves lower overall computational overhead on both the sender and receiver sides. Its total delay of signcryption and unsigncryption is only about one-sixth of that of the comparison schemes, and the peak memory occupancy during operation is less than 60% of the comparison schemes. It implements security protection with reduced resource consumption and is well suited to the large-scale deployment of health-care monitoring terminals.

Keywords

Modbus protocol; smart health care; medical-engineering integration; certificateless signcryption; secure communication

References

1. [1] Luo X，Li Y Z. Research and Implementation of Modbus TCP Security Enhancement Protocol[J/OL].Journal of Physics: Conference Series，2019，1213（5）：052058.https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/1213/5/052058.
2. [2] Shahzad A，Lee M，Lee Y-K，et al. Real Time MODBUS Transmissions and Cryptography Security Designs and Enhancements of Protocol Sensitive Information[J].Symmetry，2015，7（3）：1176-1210.
3. [3] Shi Shan, Wang Yong, Zhou Lin Modbus secure communication algorithm based on 3DES and SM4 [J]. Automation Expo, 2021, 38 (1): 67-71
4. [4] Li Huan Research on Secure Communication of Modbus TCP Protocol Based on Zuchongzhi Algorithm [D]. Wuhan: Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 2024
5. [5] Le X，Li J，Zhao Y，et al. A Security-Enhanced Scheme for ModBus TCP Protocol Based on Lightweight Cryptographic Algorithm[J].Electronics，2025，14（18）：3674.
6. [6] Yi Fu Min Research on the Security of Lightweight Modbus TCP Protocol Based on Stream Encryption [D]. Jinan: Qilu University of Technology, 2023
7. [7] Liu Z C，Liang T，Wang W S，et al. Design and Implementation of a Lightweight Security-Enhanced Scheme for Modbus TCP Protocol[J/OL].Security and Communication Networks，2023：5486566.https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/5486566.
8. [8] Luo Xuan Research and Implementation of Security Technology for Industrial Fieldbus Modbus Protocol [D]. Zhenjiang: Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, 2019
9. [9] Xu Ai, Liu Gang, Xu Yanming, etc Research and Application of Industrial Control Protocol Security Based on National Security System [J]. Automation Expo, 2021, 38 (1): 99-103
10. [10] Zhang Jian Research on Network Privacy Data Encryption Transmission Technology Based on Modbus Protocol [J]. Modern Transmission, 2025 (5): 19-22
11. [11] Saeed M E S，Liu Q Y，Tian G Y，et al. HOOSC: Heterogeneous Online/Offline Signcryption for the Internet of Things[J].Wireless Networks，2018，24（8）：3141-3160.

Funding

Anhui Sanlian University 2025 Research Innovation Platform Campus level Research Project (PTKJB2025002); Anhui Sanlian University 2024 Campus level Research Platform Research Project (PTZD2024022)

About the authors

Wei Yajing (1995-), female, Han ethnicity, from Suzhou, Anhui, teaching assistant, master's student, research interests include information security and data intelligence and proactive health intervention; Liu Zhihui (1988-), female, Han ethnicity, from Fuyang, Anhui, lecturer, master's student, research interests include wireless sensor networks and multimodal sensing and health monitoring.