Blockchain Papers

Runqun Xiong, Qing Xiao, Z. Wang, Zhuqing Xu · 5 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Anuj Nepal, Robin Doss, Frank Jiang

The emergence of the Internet of Vehicles (IoVs) has also exposed security challenges that require advanced strategies to maintain secure data provenance (SDP) and ensure data credibility and anomaly detection. This paper introduces an innovative framework tailored for the dynamic and distributed nature of IoVs that enables the secure tracing of data origins and ensures the reliability of data through plausibility checks. Our approach leverages the principles of decentralized SDP using Verifiable Credentials (VCs) and distributed ledger technology (DLT) to establish a traceable and tamper-evident data lineage, enhancing the integrity and authenticity of vehicular communications. To address the complexities of anomaly detection, we integrate checks that scrutinize data streams for abnormal patterns, enabling the timely identification and mitigation of potential security breaches. We also propose a robust mechanism to assess data plausibility, ensuring that only credible and verifiable data influence the decision-making processes in the IoVs ecosystem. Through detailed experimentation and analysis, our methodology demonstrates significant improvements in securing IoVs against common threats such as impersonation, data tampering, and privacy breaches. This fosters a trustworthy and resilient vehicular network environment.

Ardra Vinod, Malavika Vinodkumar, S Pranav, P Remyakrishnan

Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) is a particular subclass of the mobile ad-hoc network that raises several security challenges, notably how users authenticate the network. The work explores using zero-knowledge proofs for secure authentication while preserving user privacy and aims at encrypted information exchange between onboard units. Zero-knowledge proofs enhance security by protecting against impersonation attacks. We strive to reduce the dependence on roadside units for computational tasks by integrating the central authentication server and sub-authentication servers. We reduce modular exponentiation operations during authentication, enhancing efficiency without compromising security. We use the protocol verifier tool called Proverif to verify the security of our protocol. Simulation using the NS-2 simulator validates the protocol by varying the vehicle density. This paper advances VANET security by combining zero-knowledge authentication with encrypted information exchange, strengthening security, efficiency, and data confidentiality while reducing reliance on RSUs. Our protocol ensures secure communication in VANET with minimum computational and communication overhead.

Qi Xie, Zixuan Ding, Qinyun Xie, Xiao Tan · 6 authors

In vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs), existing traffic accident handling schemes are adoptable only in the scenario with roadside unit (RSU) deployment, and the generation of accident reports relies on RSUs and witness vehicles. Without the confirmation from involved vehicles in the accident, it will probably cause disputes afterward, and RSU captured attacks may also affect authentication of vehicles and correctness of accident reports. To address the above issues, we propose a vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle to RSU (V2R) authentication and traffic accident handling protocol, in which accident vehicles are sufficient to generate accident reports, thereby enhancing autonomy of the vehicular communication system and reducing reliance on external infrastructure. Furthermore, for ensuring integrity and traceability of accident reports, we utilize blockchain to keep registration information and jointly signed reports, which realizes efficient and secure mutual authentications in V2V and V2R protocols. Finally, for preserving privacy of vehicles, we integrate elliptic curve cryptosystem (ECC) and symmetric encryption to design a dynamic pseudo-identity strategy, which still allows the registration center to track malicious vehicles. The formal security proof and comparative analysis validate that our protocol preserves higher security and lower overhead by comparison with related schemes.

Joseph Wheeder, Sivaram Ponnusamy, Rais Abdul Hamid Khan, Pawan R. Ponnusamy · 5 authors

The use of blockchain technology to strengthen the privacy and security of vehicle ad hoc networks has recently garnered much attention. A private and secure network for vehicular communication can be set up by taking advantage of Blockchain's decentralized and tamper-proof properties. One of the key advantages of integrating Blockchain with VANET is creating an open and immutable record of transactions. This function guarantees no one can tamper with the securely recorded data exchanges and vehicle communications. In addition, an extra layer of protection for VANET communication can be achieved by authenticating and encrypting messages using cryptographic techniques within the blockchain framework. Smart contracts, which execute themselves according to predetermined rules written into code, are another innovation that emerged from blockchain technology. VANET's security and privacy policies can be automated and enforced, making the network even more trustworthy and reliable by using this feature. By adopting a blockchain-based architecture, VANET can enhance the privacy, security, and trust between vehicles and infrastructure parts. In this paper, we look at blockchain technology, its advantages and disadvantages, and how it could solve the privacy and security issues in VANET.

Lu Wei, Yongjuan Zhang, Jie Cui, Hong Zhong · 6 authors

The authentication and key agreement (AKA) scheme for VANETs can produce a series of short-term session keys, which can be used to secure the vehicular communications across open and insecure wireless channels. Traditional VANETs AKA schemes tend to employ the centralized trust architecture as the core authentication backend, which raises concerns about system security and reliability. Recently, several VANETs AKA schemes that are constructed on decentralized trust architecture have been proposed. However, these schemes do not achieve full decentralization and tend to suffer from key exposure issues, insufficient performance, and lack of optimization for on-chain storage costs. To address these shortcomings, we propose a threshold-based full-decentralized VANETs AKA scheme that is powered by consortium blockchain. In our proposed scheme, the threshold-based voting concept is employed to mitigate the key exposure issue inherent to the network infrastructure. Furthermore, we leverage lightweight cryptography in conjunction with the Cuckoo filter to reduce computational, communication, and on-chain operation costs brought by cryptographic operations and smart contracts. The security proof together with the cryptographic protocol validation tool prove the security of our proposed scheme, whereas the simulation experiment demonstrates the efficiency of our proposed scheme.

S. J. Patil, Lalita Admuthe, Ashwini Sandeep Patil, Saurabh R Prasad

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) facilitate rapid deployment due to independence from established infrastructure, relying instead on wireless technology where each node functions as a source, destination, or intermediary router. However, existing techniques fail to adequately address security and privacy concerns inherent in MANETs, rendering them impractical for real-world deployment. To tackle these challenges, this paper proposes the Blockchain Based Trusted Distributed Routing Scheme for MANET using Latent Encoder Coupled Generative Adversarial Network Optimized with Binary Emperor Penguin Optimizer (LEGAN-BEPO-BCMANET). This scheme leverages blockchain technology to establish a fair proof-of-reputation system, ensuring trusted and decentralized routing based on authenticated blockchain token transactions. By integrating Latent Encoder Coupled Generative Adversarial Network (LEGAN) optimized with Binary Emperor Penguin optimizer (BEPO), the scheme enhances routing efficiency and security. A comprehensive security analysis is performed focusing on aspects such as double-spending prevention, transaction distinguishability, routing information integrity, and self-modification resilience. The proposed approach is implemented in NS3 software, with evaluation metrics including throughput of blockchain token transactions and average energy consumption recorded. Overall, the LEGAN-BEPO-BCMANET scheme offers a robust solution to the security and efficiency challenges faced by MANETs, paving the way for practical deployment in real-world scenarios. The performance of the proposed LEGAN-BEPO-BCMANET technique attains 29.786%, 19.25%, 22.93%, 27.21%, 31.02%, 26.91%, and 25.61% greater throughput, compared to existing methods like Blockchain-based BATMAN protocol utilizing MANET with an ensemble algorithm (BATMAN-MANET), Block chain-based trusted distributed routing scheme with optimized dropout ensemble extreme learning neural network in MANET (DEELNN-MANET), A secured trusted routing utilizing structure of a new directed acyclic graph-blockchain in MANET internet of things environment (DAG-MANET), An Optimized Link State Routing Protocol with Blockchain Framework for Efficient Video-Packet Transmission and Security over MANET (OLSRP-MANET), Auto-metric Graph Neural Network based Blockchain Technology for Protected Dynamic Optimum Routing in MANET (AGNN-MANET) and Data security-based routing in MANETs under key management process (DSR-MANET) respectively.

Xiangwei Meng, Bingbing Liu, Xiangyin Meng, Yufeng Liang · 5 authors

The trust management and the identity authentication in the Vehicular Edge Computing (VEC) is the critical part of data security. However, most of the existing authentication schemes fail to fully address the data trust issue among edge computing nodes in cross-regional communications, and lack anonymous security features. In this paper, a lightweight Multi-entity Authenticated Group Key Agreement (MAGKA) protocol is proposed for blockchain-based VEC networks. The proposed blockchain network built from the roadside units is to ensure the un-deniability of any data exchanged among the edge networks to provide data trust management. The MAGKA protocol substantiates the lightweight authentication between the vehicles, the roadside unit, and the trusted authority anonymously, allowing the vehicles to join or leave the edge network dynamically on the premise of ensured security. The security analysis shows that MAGKA protocol can resist common attacks effectively. In addition, the performance evaluation shows that the MAGKA reduces the computational cost for the low-power node and powerful node by 75% and 50%, respectively, over the existing authentication protocols.

Abdullah Lakhan, Mazin Abed Mohammed, Karrar Hameed Abdulkareem, Muhammet Deveci · 8 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Anuj Nepal, Mohamed Ahzam Amanullah, Robin Doss, Frank Jiang

The evolution of the Internet of Vehicles (IoVs) presents many opportunities for intelligent transport systems; however, it brings significant security challenges that threaten the security and reliability of the data. Security, reliability, and trustworthiness are the essential critical requirements for the IoVs to ensure secure and efficient decision-making processes in an accurate, secure, and trustworthy manner. Traditional research paradigms have predominantly focused on data integrity, overlooking the essential need for data to be realistic, consistent, trustworthy, and reliable. Addressing this gap, our paper introduces a decentralized secure data provenance (SDP) protocol for the dynamic and distributed nature of IoVs to ensure verifiable security properties regarding data plausibility, source identity, data privacy, location authenticity, and data integrity, properties that are fundamental for achieving SDP. Our protocol integrates Verifiable Credentials (VCs) with distributed ledger technology (DLT), Road-Side Unit (RSU) infrastructure, cryptographic techniques, and plausibility checks to ensure secure, traceable, and tamper-evident data lineage. This comprehensive approach enables the timely identification and mitigation of potential security breaches, such as impersonation, data tampering, and privacy violations which are crucial for maintaining SDP and ensuring data credibility through anomaly detection and plausibility checks. Through detailed security analysis and validation, our methodology demonstrates improved resilience against common threats, ensuring that only credible and verifiable data inform its decision-making processes.

Ali Shahidinejad, Jemal Abawajy, Shamsul Huda

No abstract is available for this record.

Hui‐Tang Lin, Wei-Li Jhuang

With the emergence of the Internet of Things, traditional Vehicular ad hoc Networks have evolved into the more sophisticated Internet of Vehicles (IoV). IoV is expected to play a key role in the development of future smart cities and intelligent transportation systems. However, like most information technology systems, IoV is vulnerable to cyberattack. A hacker may gain control over a vehicle, thereby posing serious danger to the vehicle occupants, surrounding vehicles and pedestrians. Consequently, improving the security of IoV is essential in ensuring its future success. Among the various security concerns surrounding IoV, secure communications and authentication are two of the most critical. Currently, most proposed works suffers the single-point-of-failure (SPOF) problem and the Trusted Third Party (TTP) compromise issue. To address these issues, the present study proposes a secure key generation mechanism which leverages the advantages of blockchain technology and certificateless public-key cryptography. In the proposed method, the distributed architecture of blockchain is exploited to realize a decentralized TTP service to prevent the SPOF problem and the TTP compromise issue. In addition, an Authenticated Key Agreement protocol based on legal key pairs is proposed to facilitate efficient mutual authentication and session key agreement between the vehicles. The security analysis results show that the proposed schemes have excellent resistance to typical TTP issues. Moreover, the feasibility of the proposed AKA protocol is demonstrated through the eCK model. Finally, the performance analysis results show that the proposed scheme yields a significant reduction in the computational cost compared to existing AKA protocols.

Jie Li, Yuanyuan Lin, Yibing Li, Yan Zhuang · 5 authors

The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) connects an isolated individual on the road to share information, which can improve traffic efficiency. However, the promotion of information sharing brings the critical security issues of identity authentication, followed by privacy protection issues in the authentication process in the IoV. In this study, we designed a blockchain-based conditional privacy-preserving authentication scheme for the IoV (BPA). Our scheme implements zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) to verify the identities of vehicles, which moves the authentication process down to the Roadside Units (RSUs) and achieves decentralized authentication at the edge nodes. Moreover, blockchain technology is utilized to synchronize a consistent ledger across all RSUs for recording and disseminating vehicle authentication states, which enhances the overall authentication process efficiency. We provide a theoretical analysis asserting that the BPA ensures enhanced security and effectively protects the privacy of all participating vehicles. Experimental evaluations confirm that our scheme outperforms existing solutions in terms of the computational and communication overhead.

Mohammed A. Alqarni

Recent advances in aerial robotics and wireless transceivers have generated an enormous interest in networks constituted by multiple compact unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). UAV adhoc networks, i.e., aerial networks with dynamic topology and no centralized control, are found suitable for a unique set of applications, yet their operation is vulnerable to cyberattacks. In many applications, such as IoT networks or emergency failover networks, UAVs augment and provide support to the sensor nodes or mobile nodes in the ground network in data acquisition and also improve the overall network performance. In this situation, ensuring the security of the adhoc UAV network and the integrity of data is paramount to accomplishing network mission objectives. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to secure UAV adhoc networks, referred to as the blockchain-assisted security framework (BCSF). We demonstrate that the proposed system provides security without sacrificing the performance of the network through blockchain technology adopted to the priority of the message to be communicated over the adhoc UAV network. Theoretical analysis for computing average latency is performed based on queuing theory models followed by an evaluation of the proposed BCSF approach through simulations that establish the superior performance of the proposed methodology in terms of transaction delay, data secrecy, data recovery, and energy efficiency.

Deepika Gautam, Garima Thakur, Pankaj Kumar, Ashok Kumar Das · 5 authors

The potency of digital twins to mitigate the shortcomings of traditional mobility systems, such as Vehicular Adhoc Network (VANET) can reconfigure it into an intelligent transportation domain with bolstered processing, storage capabilities and decision-making abilities. The vehicular digital network is emerging as the industrial revolution, where each real-mobile entity (i.e., vehicle) is connected in the virtual environment through their digital replica, known as a digital twin. The real-time data synchronization in the digital twin-centric approach is achieved via an open communication channel. Unfortunately, leveraging the virtual-reality synthesized security perils in the network which consequently obligates rigorous privacy and security countermeasures such as authentication, encryption and signature techniques. In this paper, we have suggested a blockchain-based authentication framework for intra-twin and inter-twin communication in vehicular digital twin networks, and the integrated blockchain in the system assures data compactness and verifiability. The security of the protocol is investigated under the real or random oracle model (ROR) and is confirmed secure with non-mathematical security analysis. Eventually, the operational competences and functionality features are inspected with relevant state-of-the-arts. The findings of study states excel computation and communication overhead of suggested system than others and is seemly for vehicular digital twin network.

Yuanshuai Li, Li Cao, Guoli Zheng, Honglei Men · 5 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Mohammad Fardad, Gabriel‐Miro Muntean, Irina Tal

Vehicular Edge Computing (VEC) has emerged as a promising paradigm to enable low-latency Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) services by bringing computing resources closer to vehicles. However, the high dynamicity of vehicular networks poses significant challenges in designing an optimal policy for delivering V2X services while ensuring security and timely service delivery. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a BlockchainEnabled Vehicular Edge Computing (BEVEC) framework that employs a dual-layer verification process empowered with a permissioned blockchain to ensure data accuracy and integrity. A novel system utility function is designed to measure the performance of the BEVEC, which also serves as the basis for a consensus mechanism of the permissioned blockchain. To optimize this utility, a Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) algorithm is proposed to enable timely service delivery in BEVEC. Simulation-based results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm when compared to existing approaches. On average, it obtained an 18% reduction in latency, a 38% improvement in successful service delivery, and a 65% decrease in energy consumption.

Trent Menard, Mahmoud Abouyoussef

Vehicle digital forensics (VDF), encompasses the investigation of digital evidence related to vehicles, plays a crucial role in modern transportation systems, aiding in accident investigations, crime detection, and ensuring road safety. However, the need to collect data for such investigations has exacerbated privacy concerns, as sensitive vehicular data is susceptible to unauthorized access and exploitation. While blockchain technology has been explored in the literature to address these challenges, existing techniques often prioritize user anonymity over data unlinkability, limiting their effectiveness in preserving privacy. In response, this paper proposes a novel blockchain-based networking strategy for VDF, aiming to achieve both user anonymity and data unlinkability concurrently. By lever-aging group signatures and secure communication protocols, the proposed strategy ensures the integrity of vehicular data while mitigating privacy risks. Performance evaluations demonstrate the efficacy of the strategy in terms of computation and communication overheads, while comparative analyses highlight its superiority over existing approaches in terms of privacy preservation and security.

Huihui Wang, Chunping Wang, Kun Zhou, Duan-Yang Liu · 6 authors

The destruction of communication infrastructure after a disaster makes it impossible for vehicles to timely transmit important data, such as casualty locations, road conditions and rescue demands, which brings great difficulties to ensure safe driving and efficient rescue. Some existing schemes have proposed the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to assist data sharing in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) to perform instant rescue missions. However, the untrusted network environment after the disaster and the mutual unbelief among rescue vehicles lead to potential security problems in data sharing between vehicles and UAVs. In addition, some selfish or malicious participants may disseminate meaningless or false data, which will not only waste valuable rescue resources in disaster areas but also may threaten the safety of rescue workers. To overcome these challenges, we propose TEBChain, a trusted and efficient data sharing scheme based on blockchain. In TEBChain, a blockchain-based lightweight framework is first designed to guarantee effective data sharing and record all abnormal behavior. Then, we present an improved key update mechanism based on the Boneh-Lynn-Shacham (BLS) threshold signature, which can ensure the trust of shared data among frequently moving vehicles. Furthermore, to facilitate consensus and reduce communication overhead, a lightweight and secure PBFT (LS-PBFT) consensus protocol is proposed to enable efficient rescue of vehicles and UAVs. Finally, the effectiveness and feasibility of our proposed TEBChain are validated through performance comparisons and simulation experiments.

Gabin Heo, Inshil Doh

Recently, big data related to human movement, air quality, and meteorology have been generated in urban computing through sensing technology and the computing infrastructure. However, security problems arise as data utilization increases. If the sensing data from internet of things devices are constantly exposed, the users’ private information can be determined, a critical security risk that could result in privacy breaches. This paper proposes a secure data processing system using the blockchain and differential privacy for data security and privacy protection in urban computing. When a service provider requests information, the system generates it from urban computing data using machine learning. We apply differential privacy to these data to protect privacy. However, if a query repeats, differential privacy may provide insufficient privacy protection. Therefore, we reduce the total privacy cost by reusing noise for the same data and privacy parameters using the blockchain. Machine learning accuracy may decrease when noisy data are used for training. Thus, we increase accuracy by storing and appropriately using the model parameters generated by the same data in the blockchain. We design, simulate, and analyze the results of an experimental environment for reusing noise for differential privacy and parameter utilization of machine learning using the blockchain. The proposed approach reduces privacy costs compared to the existing mechanism while protecting data privacy. We demonstrate that, through parameter utilization, the accuracy improves compared to conventional mechanisms.

Tanya Garg, Shashank Gupta, Mohammad S. Obaidat, Meghna Raj

No abstract is available for this record.

Zhuo Hu, Bozhi Liu, Ao Shen, Jie Luo

In the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), the data sharing between the participating vehicles and the roadside units (RSUs) provides intelligent ground transportation with convenience and connectivity. To date, IoV has produced massive heterogeneous traffic data, needing to consume petabytes of computing and spectrum resources. However, due to limited computing resources, vehicles have to offload some tasks to RSUs, raising the issue of resource allocation efficiency in the IoV. This paper focuses on two aspects: the optimization of the resource allocation efficiency on the data processing and transmission, and the security of cloud-based services. Though blockchain technology provides a feasible solution for the safe interaction of IoV information, the consensus process of blockchains still involves much resource consumption. To address the issue, this paper proposes a Blockchain-Based and Resource Allocation Balanced Information Interaction Mechanism (BRAB-IIM) to achieve a balance between efficiency and security. In BRAB-IIM, maximizing the overall interests of the resource trading market and minimizing resource consumption are the two conflicting goals. Meanwhile, a vehicle classification method is proposed, which considers the real-time urgency of interactive information. Additionally, a Hierarchical Delegated Proof of Reputation (hDPoR) consensus mechanism is designed, which combines the reputation value of the vehicle and the priority level of the node vote through prioritizing vehicle demands. Finally, three different optimization algorithms are deployed for the dual-objective optimization of the overall market resource allocation. The experimental results indicate that, compared to the baseline algorithm, the NSGA-II algorithm increases the overall market revenue by 24% under the same energy consumption. Also, it is numerically validated that the BRAB-IIM improves the effectiveness and security of the IoV.

Shiwei Xu, Tao Wang, Ao Sun, Yan Tong · 7 authors

As the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) has become the critical part of Intelligent Vehicular Transportation Systems (IVTS), massive IoV entities (e.g., RSU, OBU, pedestrians’ mobile devices, etc.) get involved into IVTS. At present, one of the biggest challenges with IoV/IVTS is how to maintain a balance between security and privacy. The receivers need to be sure that they are receiving reliable messages from the origin and could trace or link the attacker’s identity, but the tracing or linking may work against the sender’s need for identity privacy. To solve the security and privacy problem, most of current works have proposed authentication solutions to provide anonymous, traceable and unlinkable schemes, which are still vulnerable to either Sybil attacks or quantum attacks. Therefore, we propose the blockchain-based post-quantum anonymous, traceable and linkable authentication scheme by utilizing NIST winner post-quantum algorithms and related post-quantum linkable ring signature. Grounded on the authentication scheme, we also develop key exchange mechanism, which help IoV entities perform efficient message authentication encryption/decryption during P2P communication and broadcast. The security analysis shows that our proposal is resistant to Sybil attack and provides other essential security characteristics including man-in-the-middle-proof and anti-replay. Finally, we perform detailed performance evaluation including each on-chain API execution time, the off-chain communication time and the on-board/on-chain storage requirements. To further evaluate the feasibility of our scheme in the IoV/IVTS environment, we also show the effectiveness of our proposal in a blockchain-based simulation study.

L. Liu, Ling Xing, Jianping Gao, Honghai Wu · 5 authors

Query exchange in the Social Internet of Vehicles (SIoV) can protect users’ trajectory information. However, this method lacks an appropriate incentive mechanism, which leads to cooperative users refusing to participate in query exchange. In order to provide cooperative users with incentives to participate in query exchange, this paper proposes a smart contract-based query exchange (SC-QE) trajectory privacy protection method. By creating a many-to-many smart contract, the method encourages the cooperative users to bid to the requesting users. Subsequently, in order to select a Best Similarity Deviation User (BSDU) for the requesting user to perform query exchange, the users in the smart contract are modeled as a weighted bipartite graph, and the matching between the requesting users and BSDUs is realized by means of a weighted bipartite graph best matching algorithm. Following successful verification of the query exchange transaction in the smart contract, the base station distributes rewards to the BSDU and uploads the query exchange transaction to the consortium blockchain. Experimental results show that compared with the deviation-based query exchange (DQE) method, the proposed method reduces the user processing time by 12% while increasing the continuous anonymous success rate by 29%. Therefore, the proposed method can reduce the service query time and improve the level of trajectory privacy protection.