International Journal of Science, Engineering and TechnologyAuthors: Mukhayyo Mirzayeva, Shakhzodbek Nasriddinov, Gavkhar Rasulova, Timur Yusupov
Abstract: In biomedical IT environments, the need for secure, high-performance file sharing has intensified due to the increasing volume of sensitive data generated by genomics, imaging, pathology, and electronic medical record (EMR) systems. The Network File System (NFS), while widely adopted for its compatibility and ease of integration, presents security challenges—especially in its earlier versions (NFSv2/v3), which lack built-in encryption and robust authentication. This review presents a comprehensive analysis of secure file access protocols in NFS, focusing on the evolution from insecure legacy implementations to modern deployments leveraging NFSv4.1 and NFSv4.2 with advanced authentication and encryption mechanisms. Key technologies such as Kerberos, RPCSEC_GSS, and GSSAPI are examined in detail, alongside centralized identity management via LDAP and Active Directory. The paper also explores access control strategies using POSIX permissions, NFSv4 ACLs, and role-based models, highlighting how these techniques ensure regulatory compliance with HIPAA and GDPR. Practical deployment considerations such as secure mount configurations, automount maps, firewall rules, and client hardening are discussed, followed by case studies from genomics labs, PACS systems, AI research clusters, and multi-hospital networks. Additionally, the review evaluates encryption overhead, performance optimizations via pNFS and caching, and the trade-offs between speed and data protection. Finally, it outlines future directions, including native NFS over TLS, Zero Trust integration, and AI-driven anomaly detection. This review provides a technical and operational roadmap for biomedical IT teams seeking to build scalable, compliant, and secure NFS-based storage architectures.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15853261
