Abstract Online voting is gaining traction in contemporary society to reduce costs and boost voter turnout, allowing individuals to cast their ballots from anywhere with an internet connection. This innovation is cautiously met due to the inherent security risks, where a single vulnerability can lead to widespread vote manipulation. Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising solution to address these concerns and create a trustworthy electoral process. Blockchain offers a decentralized network of nodes that enhances transparency, security, and verifiability. Its distributed ledger and non‐repudiation features make it a compelling alternative to traditional electronic voting systems, ensuring the integrity of elections. To further bolster the security of online voting, we propose DemocracyGuard platform on the Ethereum blockchain, which incorporates facial recognition technology to authenticate voters. By leveraging these advancements, DemocracyGuard aims to provide a secure and resilient platform for online voting, paving the way for its broader adoption and revolutionizing the electoral landscape.
Lukas Ingmarsson, Karl Duckert Karlsson, Niklas Carlsson
Bitcoin and the Dark Web present an interesting synergy that enables both legitimate anonymity and illicit activities, making it an important landscape to understand, especially as the Dark Web, with its hidden services, relies heavily on Bitcoin as a pseudonymous currency for transactions. However, a lack of scalable tools and timely datasets has limited systematic analysis of this ecosystem. To address this gap, we introduce Venom, a scalable framework for mapping Bitcoin activity on the Dark Web. Venom integrates multithreaded crawling, data extraction, and dataset generation, resulting in a comprehensive resource that allows us to easily collect snapshots of over 177,000 onion sites in roughly 24 hours. With the paper, we share both the tool and an example snapshot containing both per-site metadata and Bitcoin transaction data. Preliminary analysis reveals concentrated activity among key players and widespread content mirroring, offering new insights into the Dark Web's economic structure. Venom provides a critical resource for advancing research and monitoring in this domain.
In order to achieve zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) in distributed mobile scenarios, we propose a two-stage multi-prover ZKP framework. Our method utilizes secure multi-party computation (MPC), which has advantages such as flexible adaptation, stable performance, and fewer restrictions compared to existing solutions. In addition, based on the properties of cyclic groups, we optimize secure multi-party summation, improving the balance between security and efficiency, as well as transferability of the algorithm.
As the field of Web3 continues its rapid expansion, the security of Web3 authentication, often the gateway to various Web3 applications, becomes increasingly crucial. Despite its widespread use as a login method by numerous Web3 applications, the security risks of Web3 authentication have not received much attention. This paper investigates the vulnerabilities in the Web3 authentication process and proposes a new type of attack, dubbed blind message attacks. In blind message attacks, attackers trick users into blindly signing messages from target applications by exploiting users' inability to verify the source of messages, thereby achieving unauthorized access to the target application. We have developed Web3AuthChecker, a dynamic detection tool that interacts with Web3 authentication-related APIs to identify vulnerabilities. Our evaluation of real-world Web3 applications shows that a staggering 75.8% (22/29) of Web3 authentication deployments are at risk of blind message attacks. In response to this alarming situation, we implemented Web3AuthGuard on the open-source wallet MetaMask to alert users of potential attacks. Our evaluation results show that Web3AuthGuard can successfully raise alerts in 80% of the tested Web3 authentications. We have responsibly reported our findings to vulnerable websites and have been assigned two CVE IDs.
Matthew Marcellino, Arya Wicaksana, Moeljono Widjaja
The advancement of blockchain technology introduces the new concept of electronic voting systems (e-voting) that are fully anonymous, transparent, trustless, and decentralized. The limitation of blockchain-based e-voting systems is the need for initial setup to verify and validate eligible voters. This initial setup requires human intervention, which curbs the full potential and exploitation of blockchain technology. Identity authentication is crucial in voting systems to ensure the eligibility of the voters and the validity of the results. This paper proposes a hybrid approach using ZK-SNARK for identity authentication systems in blockchain-based e-voting. The proposed hybrid approach aims to maintain the benefit of blockchain technology while guaranteeing the eligibility of voters. Both on-chain and off-chain identity authentication modules are designed and developed to balance the trade-off of centralized and decentralized nature for the blockchain-based e-voting systems. The affordability of the proposed system is essential in justifying the approach's feasibility and usability. Voting systems are expected to host thousands to millions of voters, and the cost is one major consideration. The proposed system is deployed in the Ethereum blockchain network, including its sidechain and Layer 2, i.e., Avalanche, Arbitrum One, and Polygon. The gas fee required for the smart contract deployment in Ethereum is USD12.5, while the lowest gas fee is in the Polygon blockchain network for USD0.02.
Open access
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Online voting is a trend that is gaining momentum in modern society. It has great potential to decrease organizational costs and increase voter turnout. It eliminates the need to print ballot papers or open polling stations—voters can vote from wherever there is an Internet connection. Despite these benefits, online voting solutions are viewed with a great deal of caution because they introduce new threats. A single vulnerability can lead to large-scale manipulations of votes. Electronic voting systems must be legitimate, accurate, safe, and convenient when used for elections. Nonetheless, adoption may be limited by potential problems associated with electronic voting sys-tems . Blockchain technology came into the ground to overcome these issues and offers decentralized nodes for electronic voting and is used to produce electronic voting systems mainly because of their end-to-end verification advantages. This technology is a beautiful replacement for traditional electronic voting solutions with distributed, non-repudiation, and security protection characteristics. The following article gives an overview of electronic voting systems based on blockchain technology. The main goal of this analysis was to examine the current status of blockchain-based voting research and online voting systems and any related difficulties to predict future developments. This study provides a conceptual description of the intended blockchain-based electronic voting application and an introduction to the fundamental structure and characteristics of the blockchain in connection to electronic voting. As a consequence of this study, it was discovered that blockchain systems may help solve some of the issues that now plague election system
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
The role played by email communication in our lives nowadays has been such a tremendous one especially when it comes to fast exchange of information. Nevertheless, this convenience is marred by the omnipresent threat of email spam that not only disrupts channels of communication but also present serious security and privacy concerns. Traditional models of spam detection which are based on rules or heuristics tend to fail because they do not adapt quickly enough to the new techniques employed by spammers. In response to these challenges, this paper proposes an inventive solution to the problem—integration of blockchain technology into the process of detecting email spams.Email spam is often defined as an unwanted and usually malicious form of correspondence, thus it has continued being a notable cyber security worry. The conventional mechanisms for discovering them are prone to false positives and negatives at times. Additionally, such systems have centralized data which can be interfered with and accessed without permission. Weighing up the limitations inherent in existing methods, this research examines how blockchain may change email spam detection. Keywords— Blockchain technology, ethereum, Spam, email
Digital transformation and new technologies have made people’s lives easier and led to great results in most areas of business and society. Implementing blockchain technology is one of the best tools for establishing sustainable smart cities and societies. In terms of sustainable governance sophisticated and secure voting systems are necessary to achieve high integrity and transparency and null election fraud, and, in environmental sustainability, e-voting systems eliminate the mass waste of paper and transportation gas emissions; namely, e-voting systems are eco-friendly with high democratic outcomes. Blockchain technology can revolutionize e-voting by increasing the security and transparency of the voting process. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) into blockchain-based e-voting systems further augments their effectiveness. AI algorithms can analyze voting patterns and detect irregularities, supporting the prevention of fraudulent activities and coercion. ML procedures can enhance voter authentication processes, improve accessibility for diverse demographics, and optimize the productivity of blockchain networks during peak voting periods. This study focuses on understanding citizen perceptions of blockchain-based e-voting in a smart city context using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The study’s results indicate that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are important factors in determining citizens’ intentions to use blockchain-based e-voting. Furthermore, trust in the technology and perceived security were found to influence the usefulness of blockchain-based e-voting positively. This study provides important insights for policymakers and technologists seeking to promote the adoption of blockchain-based e-voting systems in smart cities. The findings of the research supported the research model with positive results. In conclusion, our research model encourages the adoption of a blockchain-based e-voting system to enhance the future voting environment.
The article delves into the intricate characteristics and security properties of the secp256k1 elliptic curve used for the generation of addresses in the Bitcoin blockchain. The Bitcoin blockchain is a decentralized digital ledger that records all transactions made with Bitcoin cryptocurrency. In this work, the secp256k1 elliptic curve and its parameters and the method of generating private and public keys using random numbers are described. While the private key allows for the signing of transactions to spend Bitcoin, the corresponding public key and address enable others to verify transactions and send funds to that specific address on the blockchain, ensuring security, authenticity, and privacy in the decentralized network. The attacks on the use of secp256k1 for generating the bitcoin addresses like the Brute force attack, twist attack, fault attacks, and side channel attacks in the implementation of the elliptic curve are discussed. By maintaining the security and integrity of secp256k1, we can ensure that cryptographic operations, such as digital signatures and key exchanges, remain uncompromised. If the curve's security were compromised, malicious users could potentially derive private keys from public keys, leading to unauthorized transactions, double-spending, or other malicious activities. The security of implementation can be enhanced by ensuring cryptographic libraries and software implementations that utilize secp256k1 undergo thorough testing and validation to ensure correct and secure operations. The important attacks on blockchain technology like the 51% attack, Sybil attack, Double Spending attack, and Smart Contract vulnerabilities are discussed. Through a comprehensive exploration, readers will gain insights into why this particular elliptic curve was chosen for use in Bitcoin's cryptographic protocols, highlighting its role in ensuring the robustness and integrity of the blockchain ecosystem.
Open access
2 source records
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
In a global context characterized by a pressing need to find a solution to the problem of digital copyright protection, buyer-seller watermarking protocols based on asymmetric fingerprinting and adopting a “buyer-friendly” approach have proven effective in addressing such a problem. They can ensure high levels of usability and security. However, they usually resort to trusted third parties (TTPs) to guarantee the protection process, and this is often perceived as a relevant drawback since TTPs may cause conspiracy or collusion problems, besides the fact that they are generally considered as some sort of “big brother”. This paper presents a buyer-seller watermarking protocol that can achieve the right compromise between usability and security without employing a TTP. The protocol is built around previous experiences conducted in the field of protocols based on the buyer-friendly approach. Its peculiarity consists of exploiting smart contracts executed within a blockchain to implement preset and immutable rules that run automatically under specific conditions without control from some kind of central authority. The result is a simple, usable, and secure watermarking protocol able to do without TTPs.
Open access
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Aulia Arif Wardana, Grzegorz Kołaczek, Parman Sukarno
This research introduces a comprehensive collaborative intrusion detection system (CIDS) framework aimed at bolstering the security of Internet of Things (IoT) environments by synergistically integrating lightweight architecture, trust management, and privacy-preserving mechanisms. The proposed hierarchical architecture spans edge, fog, and cloud layers, ensuring efficient and scalable collaborative intrusion detection. Trustworthiness is established through the incorporation of distributed ledger technology (DLT), leveraging blockchain frameworks to enhance the reliability and transparency of communication among IoT devices. Furthermore, the research adopts federated learning (FL) techniques to address privacy concerns, allowing devices to collaboratively learn from decentralized data sources while preserving individual data privacy. Validation of the proposed approach is conducted using the CICIoT2023 dataset, demonstrating its effectiveness in enhancing the security posture of IoT ecosystems. This research contributes to the advancement of secure and resilient IoT infrastructures, addressing the imperative need for lightweight, trust-managing, and privacy-preserving solutions in the face of evolving cybersecurity challenges. According to our experiments, the proposed model achieved an average accuracy of 97.65%, precision of 97.65%, recall of 100%, and F1-score of 98.81% when detecting various attacks on IoT systems with heterogeneous devices and networks. The system is a lightweight system when compared with traditional intrusion detection that uses centralized learning in terms of network latency and memory consumption. The proposed system shows trust and can keep private data in an IoT environment.
Jesús García-Rodríguez, Stephan Krenn, Jorge Bernal Bernabé, Antonio Skármeta
The increasing user awareness and regulatory framework (e.g., GDPR, eIDAS2) have contributed to considering data minimization and privacy-by-design as central guiding principles for new systems. Among others, this has led to a paradigm shift towards Self-Sovereign Identity solutions to put the user in full control over their data. Despite the promising landscape, privacy-preserving Attribute-Based Credentials (p-ABC) have not been widely adopted, mainly due to the lack of secure, flexible and efficient implementations that cover the basic and advanced needs in p-ABC systems. In this work, we tackle this gap by developing an improved zero-knowledge showing protocol of a distributed p-ABC scheme based on Pointcheval-Sanders Multi-Signatures to allow for modular extensions through commit-and-prove techniques. We use it to implement a flexible p-ABC system with decentralized issuance that, apart from the basic notions of p-ABCs, covers range proofs, pseudonyms, inspection and revocation. Lastly, we thoroughly evaluate the performance of the system under different testbed conditions, showing a significant efficiency improvement over previous implementations.
Traditional covert transmission (CT) approaches have been hindering CT application while blockchain technology offers new avenue. Current blockchain-based CT approaches require off-chain negotiation of critical information and often overlook the dynamic updating of session keys, which increases the risk of message and key leakage. Additionally, in some approaches the covert transactions exhibit obvious characteristics that can be easily detected by third-parties. Moreover, most approaches do not address the issue of decreased reliability of message transmission in blockchain attack scenarios. Bitcoin-and Ethereum-based approaches also have the issue of transaction linkability, which can be tackled by Monero-based approaches because of the privacy protection mechanisms in Monero. However, Monero-based CT has the problem of sender repudiation. In this paper, we propose a novel$M$onero-$B$ased CT approach (MBCT), which enables on-chain session key dynamically updating without off-chain negotiation. MBCT can assure confidentiality of on-chain session key, non-repudiation of transmission parties, reliability of message transmission under blockchain attack, unlinkability and obscurity of covert transactions. They are achieved by the three components in MBCT, namely, a sender authentication method, a dynamically on-chain session key updating method and a state feedback method. We implement MBCT in Monero-0.18.1.0 and the experiment results demonstrate its high embedding capacity of MBCT.
Student, CSE, Sir MVIT, B Sumangala, Aman Raj, Amritanshu Bhardwaj · 6 authors
Abstract - CrypticReport is a decentralized crime reporting system designed to make public reporting safer, more transparent, and free from identity risks. Citizens often avoid reporting crimes due to fear of exposure, harassment, or data misuse. CrypticReport overcomes these challenges by combining blockchain technology, decentralized IPFS storage, artificial intelligence or zero-knowledge–based authentication. Using Anon Aadhaar, users can verify their identity without revealing any personal information. AI models classify reports to block spam and detect duplicate submissions. All verified reports and evidence are stored in IPFS, and their hashes are recorded on the blockchain for tamper-proof storage. The platform uses a React interface for reporting, a Flask backend for AI processing, Ethereum smart contracts for record immutability, and the Waku protocol for real-time updates between citizens and authorities. Testing shows that the system improves trust, preserves anonymity, and ensures that no data can be altered once submitted. CrypticReport proves that decentralized systems can make crime reporting more secure, reliable, and citizen-friendly. Key Words: Blockchain, IPFS, Anonymous Reporting, AI Classification, Zero-Knowledge Proof, Decentralized Systems
Mrs. K. Divya Kalyani, S. Aimen Fathima, Sowndarya Lakshmi, K.S. Hemanth · 5 authors
This paper introduces a novel Digitalized Voting System designed to address the shortcomings of current voting methods employed in India. With a focus on enhancing transparency and trust in the electoral process, the system aims to overcome challenges present in both traditional and digital voting systems, including instances of mishaps and injustice. Leveraging blockchain technology, the proposed system seeks to ensure fair elections and minimise occurrences of injustice. While electronic voting has been introduced as a solution to paper-based voting, it has encountered obstacles primarily related to security and privacy concerns. To address these issues, our framework emphasises the effectiveness of various components such as the polling process, hashing algorithms, contract and block creation, data accumulation, and result declaration.Utilising an adjustable blockchain method, the system aims to provide a robust solution to the security and data management challenges inherent in blockchain technology. By incorporating elements such as blockchain, hashing algorithms, block creation, OTP verification, and Ethereum, our approach endeavours to digitalize the voting process comprehensively. This paper contributes to the advancement of electoral integrity by presenting an improved manifestation of electronic voting, paving the way for more transparent and secure elections
Open access
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Blockchain technology has emerged as a transformative approach for decentralized data management, ensuring transparency, security, and trustworthiness in digital transactions. Central to blockchain’s robustness are data integrity and cryptographic mechanisms, which collectively maintain the immutability and confidentiality of data. This article examines the critical role of cryptography in safeguarding blockchain networks, highlighting techniques such as hash functions, digital signatures, and public-key cryptography. Further, it discusses how these cryptographic tools enable data integrity, prevent tampering, and secure distributed ledger systems. Challenges and future prospects of cryptographic methods in evolving blockchain applications are also explored.
V Preethi, V R Litheesh, M Vinay, Amith Maiya G · 5 authors
Nowadays, there has been increasing interest in leveraging blockchain technology for secure and transparent electronic voting systems.This paper presents the design and implementation of a blockchain-based e-voting system aimed at enhancing the integrity, security, and accessibility of traditional voting processes.The system architecture utilizes distributed ledger technology to record and verify votes, ensuring immutability and transparency of the electoral process.Our approach addresses key challenges such as voter anonymity, verifiability, and prevention of tampering or fraud.The implementation leverages smart contracts to automate vote counting and result tabulation, thereby minimizing the need for manual intervention and reducing the potential for errors.We discuss the technical components of the system, including the blockchain network setup, consensus mechanisms, and cryptographic techniques employed to safeguard voter privacy and data integrity.Furthermore, we evaluate the performance and scalability of the system, considering factors such as transaction throughput and latency.Real-world deployment scenarios and potential challenges in adopting blockchain-based e-voting systems are also discussed.The outcomes of this research contribute to the advancement of secure and trustworthy e-voting systems, paving the way for more inclusive and efficient democratic processes.
Blockchain is a modern technology that has revolutionized the way society interacts and trades. It could be defined as a chain of blocks that stores information with digital signatures in a distributed and decentralized network. This technique was first adopted for the creation of digital crypto currencies, such as Bit coin and Ethereum. However, research and industrial studies have recently focused on the opportunities that blockchain provides in various other application domains to take advantage of the main features of this technology, such as: decentralization, persistency, anonymity, and auditability. This paper reviews the use of blockchain in several interesting fields, namely: finance, healthcare, information systems, wireless networks, Internet of Things, smart grids, governmental services, and military/defense. In addition, our paper identifies the challenges to overcome, to guarantee better use of this technology.
Abstract As a cornerstone of democratic governance, elections hold unparalleled significance, shaping a nation’s trajectory. However, the prevailing ballot-paper based voting systems continue to face trust issues among significant populations. As a result, e-Voting has emerged as an appealing alternative, with numerous countries opting for its implementation globally. While e-Voting systems offer several advantages, they also come with their own set of challenges. Even a minor vulnerability can lead to massive manipulations in voting results. In recent years, there have been efforts to revolutionize the e-Voting paradigm by harnessing the potential of emerging technologies such as biometrics and blockchain. This paper proposes a Internet-based voting that adopts blockchain technology and biometric identification techniques. We use biometric modalities, such as fingerprint and facial recognition, for voter authentication while leveraging Hyperledger Fabric framework as blockchain network and ensuring a secure, transparent, and tamper-evident voting record. We demonstrate the proposed system with 100 participants in a preset environment where we collect the biometrics data. The results indicate that 87% of participants successfully registered with biometrics, while 88% cast their votes with a combination of either voter ID and fingerprint or voter ID with facial recognition. Our findings suggest that the proposed system allows voters to access the system seamlessly and automate identity verification procedures while ensuring a secure, decentralized, and distributed database network that maintains transparency. Future research shall be carried out in collaboration with election officials and voters to improve the system in real-world scenarios.
Chaehyeon Lee, Jonathan Heiss, Stefan Tai, James Won‐Ki Hong
Verifiable decentralized federated learning (FL) systems combining blockchains and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) make the computational integrity of local learning and global aggregation verifiable across workers. However, they are not end-to-end: data can still be corrupted prior to the learning. In this paper, we propose a verifiable decentralized FL system for end-to-end integrity and authenticity of data and computation extending verifiability to the data source. Addressing an inherent conflict of confidentiality and transparency, we introduce a two-step proving and verification (2PV) method that we apply to central system procedures: a registration workflow that enables non-disclosing verification of device certificates and a learning workflow that extends existing blockchain and ZKP-based FL systems through non-disclosing data authenticity proofs. Our evaluation on a prototypical implementation demonstrates the technical feasibility with only marginal overheads to state-of-the-art solutions.
Nowadays, the Internet has become one of the basic human needs of professionals. With the massive number of devices, reliability, and security will be crucial in the coming ages. Routers are common to provide us with the internet. These routers can be operated in different modes. Some routers use the Wifi Security Protocol (WPA) or WPA2, and the Wifi Alliance introduced WPA3 on 25 June 2018. There are a lot of papers regarding Smart Contract (SC)–based IDS as well as Machine Learning-based IDS. Very few discuss combining SC and ML-based IDS for different authentication processes. In this paper, we will discuss how combining SC and ML plays a vital role in authentication. Also, we play the role of embedded IDS system so that existing vulnerabilities of the WPA2 and WPA3 can be reduced to 99.62%.
The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) is a crucial technology for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) that integrates vehicles with the Internet and other entities. The emergence of 5 G and the forthcoming 6 G networks presents an enormous potential to transform the IoV by enabling ultra-reliable, low-latency, and high-bandwidth communications. Nevertheless, as connectivity expands, cybersecurity threats have become a significant concern. The issue has been further exacerbated by the rising number of zero-day (0-day) attacks, which can exploit unknown vulnerabilities and bypass existing Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs). In this paper, we propose Zero-X, an innovative security framework that effectively detects both 0-day and N-day attacks. The framework achieves this by combining deep neural networks with Open-Set Recognition (OSR). Our approach introduces a novel scheme that uses blockchain technology to facilitate trusted and decentralized federated learning (FL) of the Zero-X framework. This scheme also prioritizes privacy preservation, enabling both CAVs and Security Operation Centers (SOCs) to contribute their unique knowledge while protecting the privacy of their sensitive data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to leverage OSR in combination with privacy-preserving FL to identify both 0-day and N-day attacks in the realm of IoV. The in-depth experiments on two recent network traffic datasets show that the proposed framework achieved a high detection rate while minimizing the false positive rate. Comparison with related work showed that the Zero-X framework outperforms existing solutions.
The blockchain-based electronic voting (e-voting) system, offers universities a safe, easy-to-use platform that enhances accuracy and integrity. Despite that, it is challenging to integrate the blockchain-based e-voting system with current platforms and private data. Managing latency is another requirement during the blockchain transactions (votes/elections). In this work, we suggested a novel system that uses smart contracts on the consortium blockchain to address these constraints. The voters and electors in a university can vote and elect respecting the rules established in smart contracts. The miners validate transactions using proof of work (PoW) and proof of stake (PoS). Data integrity and voter validity are ensured via the SHA-256 hash algorithm and the ECDSA signature. The implementation results demonstrate that the suggested method works better than the state-of-the-art. exceeds the state-of-the-art in terms of gas cost and execution time.
In virtual power plants, diverse business scenarios involving user data, such as queries, transactions, and sharing, pose significant privacy risks. Traditional attribute-based encryption (ABE) methods, while supporting fine-grained access, fall short of fully protecting user privacy as they require attribute input, leading to potential data leaks. Addressing these limitations, our research introduces a novel privacy protection scheme using zero-knowledge proof and distributed attribute-based encryption (DABE). This method innovatively employs Merkel trees for aggregating user attributes and constructing commitments for zero-knowledge proof verification, ensuring that user attributes and access policies remain confidential. Our solution not only enhances privacy but also fortifies security against man-in-the-middle and replay attacks, offering attribute indistinguishability and tamper resistance. A comparative performance analysis demonstrates that our approach outperforms existing methods in efficiency, reducing time, cost, and space requirements. These advancements mark a significant step forward in ensuring robust user privacy and data security in virtual power plants.