There has been a lot of hype around blockchains and non fungible tokens (NFTs). However the technology is yet to establish itself beyond a limited number of fairly specific use cases, namely cryptocurrency and digital art. This commentary seeks to propose an outline framework for NFTs and Blockchains for digital provenance of important digital artifacts such as citizen intelligence and newspapers. This article develops an outline framework and reasoning for NFT and Blockchain technology to be used to establish provenance of digital artifacts in what is an increasingly contested digital space. A space where the subtle (and perhaps not so subtle) manipulation of video, images, and all forms of digital evidence and documents by humans, and increasingly artificial intelligence, could be used to challenge contemporary narratives and manipulate the past. This framework should be seen as an opening proposal to ignite discussion, as the establishment of any technology in this space should not be done without careful consideration. Nor should it be done by a single individual or group.
As smart contracts process digital assets, their security is essential for blockchain applications. Many approaches have been proposed to detect smart contract vulnerabilities. Studies show that few of the reported vulnerabilities are exploited and hypothesize that many of the reported vulnerabilities are false positives. However, no follow-up study is performed to confirm the hypothesis and understand why the reported vulnerabilities are not exploited. In this study, we first collect 136,969 unique real-world smart contracts and analyze them using four vulnerability detectors, namely Oyente, SmartCheck, Slither, and SolDetector. Then, we apply Strauss’ grounded theory approach to manually analyze the source code of the smart contracts reported as vulnerable to recognizing false positives and understand the reasons for false results. In addition, we analyze the transaction logs of the smart contracts reported as vulnerable to identifying and understanding their exploitations. Our results show that 75.37% of the 4,364 smart contracts reported as vulnerable are false positives, and eleven reasons are causing the false positives. After analyzing the 4,106,134 transaction logs of the contracts reported as vulnerable, we find that vulnerabilities of only 67 (0.015%) of the contracts have been exploited in history. We also identify six reasons for demotivating and preventing the attackers from exploiting the vulnerabilities. Our results reveal that state-of-the-art smart contract vulnerability detectors primarily treat the smart contracts as yet another application developed using Object Oriented (OO) languages when analyzing and reporting the smart contract vulnerabilities. Without considering the specific design principles of the Solidity programming language and the characteristics of smart contracts’ application scenarios and execution environments, many of the reported vulnerabilities are not exploitable or not cost-effective to be exploited by adversaries.
The verification of the integrity of data recorded on blockchains is a disregarded challenge. The limitations of blockchains to provide verification mechanisms suggest the necessity to extend the data provenance verification further back into the real-world infrastructure. The deployment of blockchain in critical areas handling sensitive data, such as healthcare machines, motivates the development of such measures. The purpose of this thesis is to explore blockchains in real-world medical applications. The implementation introduces a mechanism to establish a link between real-world medical systems and blockchains by utilizing mechanisms such as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), Trusted Platform Module (TPM), and remote attestation. This thesis provides practical insight into the design of blockchain applications with the requirement of digital twin-like properties. In conclusion, TPM and remote authentication mechanisms can be used to verify the integrity of devices and the data they generate. However, the overall architecture of blockchains and the required infrastructure are still lacking. Thus, more investigation is required to understand the actual utility of blockchains.
Metaverse, the core of the next-generation Internet, is a computer-generated holographic digital environment that simultaneously combines spatio-temporal, immersive, real-time, sustainable, interoperable, and data-sensitive characteristics. It cleverly blends the virtual and real worlds, allowing users to create, communicate, and transact in virtual form. With the rapid development of emerging technologies including augmented reality, virtual reality and blockchain, the metaverse system is becoming more and more sophisticated and widely used in various fields such as social, tourism, industry and economy. However, the high level of interaction with the real world also means a huge risk of privacy leakage both for individuals and enterprises, which has hindered the wide deployment of metaverse. Then, it is inevitable to apply privacy computing techniques in the framework of metaverse, which is a current research hotspot. In this paper, we conduct comprehensive research on the necessity, taxonomy and challenges when privacy computing meets metaverse. Specifically, we first introduce the underlying technologies and various applications of metaverse, on which we analyze the challenges of data usage in metaverse, especially data privacy. Next, we review and summarize state-of-the-art solutions based on federated learning, differential privacy, homomorphic encryption, and zero-knowledge proofs for different privacy problems in metaverse. Finally, we show the current security and privacy challenges in the development of metaverse and provide open directions for building a well-established privacy-preserving metaverse system. For easy access and reference, we integrate the related publications and their codes into a GitHub repository: https://github.com/6lyc/Awesome-Privacy-Computing-in-Metaverse.git.
T. Sathya, N Keertika, Sirikonda Shwetha, Deepti Upodhyay · 5 authors
In recent years, ransomware attacks have become a more significant source of computer penetration. Only general-purpose computing systems with sufficient resources have been harmed by ransomware so far. Numerous ransomware prediction strategies have been published, but more practical machine learning ransomware prediction techniques still need to be developed. In order to anticipate ransomware assaults, this study provides a method for obtaining data from artificial intelligence and machine learning systems. A more accurate model for outcome prediction is produced by using the data science methodology. Understanding the data and identifying the variables are essential elements of a successful model. A variety of machine learning algorithms are applied to the pre-processed data, and the accuracy of each technique is compared to determine which approach performed better. Additional performance indicators including recall, accuracy, and f1-score are also taken into account while evaluating the model. It uses machine learning to predict how the ransomware attack would pan out.
Organised crime and cybercriminals use Bitcoin, a popular cryptocurrency, to launder money and move it across borders with impunity. The UK and other countries have legislation to recover the proceeds of crime from criminals. Recent UK case law has recognised cryptocurrency assets as property that can be seized and realised under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA). To seize a cryptocurrency asset generally requires access to the private key. Anecdotal evidence suggests that if cryptocurrency is not seized quickly after enforcement action has taken place, it will be transferred to other wallets making it difficult to seize at a future time. We investigate how Bitcoin could be seized from an Electrum or Ledger hardware wallet, during a law enforcement search, using live forensic techniques and a dictionary attack. We conduct a literature review examining the state-of-the-art in Bitcoin application forensics and Bitcoin wallet attacks. Concluding, that there is a gap in research on Bitcoin wallet security and that a significant proportion of the available literature comes from a small group of academics working with industry and law enforcement (Volety et al. 2019; Van Der Horst et al., 2017; Zollner et al., 2019). We then forensically examine the Electrum software wallet and the Ledger Nano S hardware wallet, to establish what artefacts can be recovered to assist in the recovery of Bitcoin from the wallets. Our main contribution is a proposed framework for Bitcoin forensic triage, a collection tool to recover Bitcoin artefacts and identifiers, and two proof of concept dictionary-attack tools written in Python and OpenCL. We then evaluate these tools to establish if an attack is practicable using a low-cost cluster of public cloud-based Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) instances. During our investigation, we find a weakness in Electrum's storage of encrypted private keys in RAM. We leverage this to make around 2.4 trillion password guesses. We also demonstrate that we can conduct 16.6 billion guesses against a password protected Ledger seed phrase.
Smart contracts (SC) are computer programs that are major components of Blockchain. The "intelligent contract" is made up of the rules accepted by the parties concerned. When the transactions started by the parties obey these established rules, then only their transactions will be completed without the involvement of a third party. Because of the simplicity and succinct nature of the solidity language, most smart contracts are written in this language. Smart contracts have two limitations, which are vulnerabilities in SC and that smart contracts can't be understood by all stakeholders, especially non-technical people who are involved in the business, since they are written in a programming language. Hence, the proposed paper used the XGBoost model and BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation) tool to solve the first and second limitations of the SC respectively. Attackers are drawn to attention because of the popularity and fragility of the Solidity language. Once smart contracts have been launched, they can’t be changed. If that smart contract is vulnerable, attackers may then cash it. BPMN is used to represent business rules or contracts in graphical notation, so everyone involved in the business can understand the business rules. This BPMN diagram can be converted into a smart contract template through the BPMN-SOL tool. A few publications and existing tools exist on smart contract vulnerability detection, but they require more time to forecast and interpretation of vulnerability causes is also difficult. Thus, the proposed model experimented with several deep learning approaches and improved F1 score results by an average of 2% using the XGBoost model based on the ensemble technique to detect vulnerabilities of SCs, which are: Denial of Service (DOS), Unchecked external call, Re-entrancy, and Origin of Transaction. This paper also combined two important features to construct a data set, which are code snippets and n-grams.
Constant advancements in technology have a significant impact on our everyday lives and the ecosystem in which we live. The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies (e.g., Bitcoin and Ethereum), along with Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), which are founded on blockchain technology, has opened the way for these blockchain projects to be integrated into a wide range of other kinds of applications (apps). Today, cryptocurrencies are used as a popular method of payment online; however, their popularity on the dark Web is also increasing. For example, they can be used to buy and perform various illegal activities among criminals due to their anonymity. Web3 cryptocurrency wallets, used to store cryptocurrencies, have not been studied as thoroughly as many other apps from a digital forensic perspective on mobile devices, given the increasing number of these services and apps today for many platforms, including the leading mobile operating systems (i.e., iOS and Android). Therefore, the purpose of this research is to guide investigators to unlock the full potential of popular cryptocurrency Web3 wallets, Trust Wallet and Metamask, to understand what can be recovered, and to look at areas where there are knowledge gaps. We digitally analyzed and forensically examined two mobile wallets that do not require any personal identifiers to register and are widely used for Web3 cryptocurrencies on Android and iOS devices. We review the digital evidence we have collected and discuss the implications of the forensic tools we have used. Finally, we propose a proof of concept extension to the iOS Logs, Events, And Plists Parser (iLEAPP) tool to automatically recover artifacts.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose price is pegged to that of another asset (typically one with low price volatility). The market for stablecoins has grown tremendously - up to almost $200 billion USD in 2022. These coins are being used extensively in newly developing paradigms for digital money and commerce as well as for decentralized finance technology. This work provides a technical description of stablecoin technology to enable reader understanding of the variety of ways in which stablecoins are architected and implemented. This includes a descriptive definition, commonly found properties, and distinguishing characteristics, as well as an exploration of stablecoin taxonomies, descriptions of the most common types, and examples from a list of top stablecoins by market capitalization. This document also explores related security, safety, and trust issues with an analysis conducted from a computer science and information technology security perspective as opposed to the financial analysis and economics focus of much of the stablecoin literature.
Sarah Khadijah Taylor, Steve Ho-yong Kim, Khairul Akram Zainol Ariffin, Siti Norul Huda Sheikh Abdullah
Studies have shown that the existing methodology of digital forensics preservation, which is to acquire and hash the evidence, is insufficient for cryptocurrencies as it does not secure the value. To address this issue, investigators secure the cryptocurrency by transferring it to a crypto wallet controlled by the Law Enforcement Agencies(LEAs). This process will unavoidably modify some data. Despite the criticality of this issue, inadequate studies have been made in this area. In addition, current guidelines on securing the cryptocurrency lack a comprehensive description from the perspective of digital evidence preservation principles. Crucial data to be documented throughout the preservation process were also not properly listed. Therefore, this study aims to address the gap in preserving cryptocurrencies from crypto wallets. Three objectives were then laid out; (1) to develop a methodology that is mapped comprehensively with digital evidence preservation principle, (2) to describe and provide justification on the inevitably modified data, and (3) to list crucial data to be documented during preservation process. The methods to achieve the objectives were critical examinations on various types of crypto wallets and by using simulation. The result shows that the study is able to provide a comprehensive crypto wallets preservation methodology to forensic investigators. It is hoped that the outcome from this study will promote better understanding, ensure consistency of implementation, and to aid investigators in explaining and justifying their actions during search and seizure in court.
Digital forensic examiners and stakeholders face increasing challenges during the investigation of Internet of Things (IoT) environments due to the heterogeneous nature of the IoT infrastructure. These challenges include guaranteeing the integrity of forensic evidence collected and stored during the investigation process. Similarly, they also encounter challenges in ensuring the transparency of the investigation process which includes the chain-of-custody and evidence chain. In recent years, some blockchain-based secure evidence models have been proposed especially for IoT forensic investigations. These proof-of-concept models apply the inherent properties of blockchain to secure the evidence chain of custody, maintain privacy, integrity, provenance, traceability, and verification of evidence collected and stored during the investigation process. Although there have been few prototypes to demonstrate the practical implementation of some of these proposed models, there is a lack of descriptive review of these blockchain-based IoT forensic models. In this paper, we report a comprehensive Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of the latest blockchain-based IoT forensic investigation process models. Particularly, we systematically review how blockchain is being used to securely improve the forensic investigation process and discuss the efficiency of these proposed models. Finally, the paper highlights challenges, open issues, and future research directions of blockchain technology in the field of IoT forensic investigations.
In recent years, mobile edge computing (MEC) has become a research hotspot in academia. The Internet of Things (IoT) is an excellent way to build the infrastructure required for a MEC environment. Its rich digital tracking repository can provide insights into people's daily activities at home and elsewhere. Meanwhile, due to the open connectivity of the Internet of things devices, they can easily become the target of network attacks and be used by criminals as criminal tools. As a result, civil and criminal cases have increased year by year. This article conducts in-depth research on IoT forensics. By comparing its difference with traditional digital forensics (DF), the definition of IoT forensics is given. We have systematically sorted out the research results since the concept of IoT forensics was proposed in 2013 and proposed a generalized IoT forensics model. By studying blockchain technology and introducing it into the IoT forensics framework, a blockchain-based IoT forensics architecture is further proposed. Further, an alliance chain IoT forensics system is proposed. From the perspective of the data provider and the data visitor, the process of evidence storage and forensics of the IoT system is discussed. Finally, taking Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) forensics as an example, we give an experiment of IoT forensics analysis.
Digital forensics deals with digital evidence. Digital forensics is the study of data detection, acquisition, processing, analysis, and reporting. Encouraging the use of digital forensics in law enforcement investigations. With digital forensics, you can find out what data was taken and how it was c
Eugene B. Chang, Paul J. Darcy, Kim‐Kwang Raymond Choo, Nhien‐An Le‐Khac
Cryptocurrency has been (ab)used to purchase illicit goods and services such as drugs, weapons and child pornography (also referred to as child sexual abuse materials), and thus mobile devices (where cryptocurrency wallet applications are installed) are a potential source of evidence in a criminal investigation. Not surprisingly, there has been increased focus on the security of cryptocurrency wallets, although forensic extraction and attribution of forensic artefacts from such wallets is understudied. In this paper, we examine Bitcoin and Dogecoin. The latter is increasingly popular partly due to endorsements from celebrities and being positioned as an introductory path to cryptocurrency for newcomers. Specifically, we demonstrate how one can acquire forensic artefacts from Android Bitcoin and Dogecoin cryptocurrency wallets, such as wallet IDs, transaction IDs, timestamp information, email addresses, cookies, and OAuth tokens.
Security issues are increasing day by day all over the world. Cyber issues are one of the major issues that cause cyber-attacks involving Malware, Phishing, and Ransomware attack. Pakistan is also one of the major countries that are facing cybercrime issues. The most important firms are government agencies like NADRA, Law Firm, and Police Firm. Pakistan has still not made a refined structure to ensure its security from advanced risks. By, and by it has transformed into a national security hazard for Pakistan because the individual data of the government is not secured. Multiple attacks on the NADRA server have occurred in the past. The reason is the centralization server, and security flaws. With the coming of Technology in the 21st century, and security worries that happens due to cybercrimes. Individuals are currently pushing toward new advances, the main thing that comes in the mind to keep away from security hazards, is to circulate the information among various individuals, so the idea of decentralization comes in. A technology that recently has gathered a lot of attention is Blockchain technology. Its decentralized nature gives secure, secret, and basic intends to keep up the records without alteration. Blockchain provides immutability, Integrity, helps enhanced security, distributed ledger, and also provides consensuses. So for government organizations like NADRA data is the most important thing, if this data is compromised due to security flaws then it’s happened a national security hazard that causes leakages of the nation's personal information. So this thesis purpose how to secure data using Blockchain technology a private Blockchain technology. An architectural view is presented with the help of use cases for government organizations NADRA, Police Firm, and Law Firm using HLF Blockchain technology. This thesis also presents the design, and architecture of how organizations work, and interact with one another. Using this design, and architecture we will be able to provide forensic to government organization data which makes it more secure from cyber threats.
Due to the unavailability of issuing entities, the increasing number of valuable documents that are still being issued in printed form has an impact on forgery and cannot be verified. Academic certification is an achievement that everyone desires because it has a positive effect and has a continuity in their social life. These activities are listed as being able to identify, analyze, and try out any of the ledger options that are available. arise to provide greater efficiency, reliability, and a level of independence. By implementing a prototype that could issue, verify, and distribute certificates, the fact of the concept was proposed. The experimental test results are given, as well as the use of blockchain technology for the purpose of analyzing. Finally, this work outlines the current growth and maturity of equipment encountered, reports progress and limitations, and reveals issues that still need to be addressed.
The interest in cryptocurrency investing is constantly growing. Cryptocurrency may be the currency of the future, but it is also the heaven for con artists to scam investors from their money. Crypto transactions are irreversible. If the underlying blockchain technology has privacy or mixer capabilities it can be virtually untraceable, which creates a new avenue for criminals to scam victims with ease. Social media impersonation is one of the top scams currently performed by criminals. This study presents an example of a social media impersonation scam and the characteristics of the scam. The qualitative data is gathered from communication between the scammer and the potential victim. This study also indicates that cryptocurrency awareness should be included in cyber security training curriculums.
Dor Bitan, Ran Canetti, Shafi Goldwasser, Rebecca Wexler
The use of hidden investigative software to collect evidence of crimes presents courts with a recurring dilemma: On the one hand, there is often clear public interest in keeping the software hidden to preserve its effectiveness in fighting crimes. On the other hand, criminal defendants have rights to inspect and challenge the full evidence against them, including law enforcement's investigative methods. In fact, in the U.S. adversarial legal system, the defendant's rights to scrutinize the government's tools are crucial to the truth-seeking process and to keeping law enforcement conduct lawful and constitutional. Presently, courts balance these conflicting interests on a case-by-case basis through evidentiary privilege law, often voicing their frustration with the challenging dilemma they face. We demonstrate how judicious use of a sophisticated cryptographic tool called Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) could help to mitigate this dilemma: Based on actual court cases where evidence was collected using a modified version of a peer-to-peer software, we demonstrate how law enforcement could, in these cases, augment their investigative software with a ZKP-based mechanism that would allow them to later provide full responses to challenges made by a defense expert -- and allow a defense expert to independently verify law enforcement claims -- while keeping the software hidden. We demonstrate the technical feasibility of our mechanism via a proof-of-concept implementation. We also propose legal analysis that justifies its use, discusses its merits, and considers the legal implications that the very existence of such a mechanism might have, even in cases where it has not been used. Our proof-of-concept may also extend to other verification dilemmas in the legal landscape.
The Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market has been exploding in the past years. The notion of NFT originated with Ethereum's token standard, which aimed to differentiate each token using distinguishing signals. Tokens of this type can be associated with virtual or digital properties to serve as unique identifiers. Using NFTs Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a new technology gaining traction in the Blockchain industry. In this article, we examine state-of the art NFT systems that have the potential to reshape the market for digital virtual assets. We will assess the security of existing NFT systems and expand on the opportunities and prospective uses for the NFT idea. Finally, we discuss existing research challenges that must be overcome before mass-market penetration may occur. We hope that this paper provides an up-to-date analysis and summary of existing and proposed solutions and projects, making it easier for newcomers to stay current.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have gained considerable media attention and sparked growing public interest. NFTs are unique units of data recorded on a permanent ledger or blockchain. NFTs are used to record ownership of both physical and digital goods. Prominent sport organizations have embraced NFTs for innovative growth opportunities such as generating revenue via novel digital products (e.g., digital collectibles). For example, the National Basketball Association (NBA) launched NBA Top Shot, an online marketplace to buy and sell digital sports highlights. Sport organizations are exploring future innovation opportunities where there is a need to reliably track and verify authenticity or ownership of digital or digitizable assets. This includes existing sport products (e.g., tickets) and novel fan engagement initiatives. To benefit from NFTs, sport managers need to reconceptualize how sport is marketed and managed in a digital domain. The purpose of this research primer is to acquaint readers with key concepts related to NFTs. Specifically, we provide an overview of NFTs, offer a review of the brief history of NFTs, conceptualize NFTs via parallels with collectibles, and address the speculative nature of the NFT market. We conclude by outlining innovative growth opportunities of NFTs for sport managers and future research directions for sport management scholars.
Open access
5 source records
Digital Games and Media
Sports Analytics and Performance
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification