In smart grids, the access verification of a large number of intelligent gateways and terminal devices has become one of the main concerns to ensure system security. This means that smart grids need a new key management method that is safe and efficient and has a low computational cost. Although a large number of scholars have conducted relevant research, most of these schemes cannot balance the computational overhead and security. Therefore, we propose a lightweight and secure key management method, having a low computational overhead, based on blockchain for smart grids. Firstly, we redesigned the architecture of the smart grid based on blockchain and completed the division of various entities. Furthermore, we designed a pairing-free certification authenticated group key agreement method based on blockchain under the architecture. Finally, we achieved higher security attributes, and lower authentication delay and computational overhead, compared to the traditional schemes, as shown in performance analysis and comparison.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Smart Grid Security and Resilience
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Digital manufacturing (DM) is actively adopted to the production lifecycles of a variety of critical industries, and this rapid growth has resulted in exponential increase of 3D computer-aided design (CAD) models. Unfortunately, counterfeiting of intellectual property becomes a prominent threat as many 3D designs are accessible online, combined with the proliferation of cheap consumer 3D printers that enable malicious actors to produce non-authentic parts. State-of-the-art techniques to secure manufacturing processes mostly rely on watermarking, which embeds hidden information inside CAD models to prove ownership and authenticity. Nevertheless, such techniques tamper with the model itself, while existing attacks allow removing such watermarks altogether. To address these shortcomings, we integrate signal processing and cryptographic techniques and describe a tailored solution for CAD model ownership and supply chain management. Our approach generates unique identifiers for 3D designs using frequency-domain transforms and employs non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that persist on public distributed ledgers. Our NFTs are implemented on the Ethereum blockchain using smart contracts and their functionality is twofold: (a) authenticate the owner of a CAD model, and (b) enable ownership transfer. To validate our technique, we deployed our smart contract on Ethereum's proof-of-work Ropsten network and demonstrated the applicability of our methodology.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Tuukka Mustapää, H. Tunkkari, Jaan Taponen, L. Immonen · 8 authors
Digitalization and the rapid development of IoT systems has posed challenges for metrology because it has been comparatively slow in adapting to the new demands. That is why the digital transformation of metrology has become a key research and development topic all over the world including the development of machine-readable formats for digital SI (D-SI) and digital calibration certificates (DCCs). In this paper, we present a method for using these digital formats for metrological data to enhance the trustworthiness of data and propose how to use digital signatures and distributed ledger technology (DLT) alongside DCCs and D-SI to ensure integrity, authenticity, and non-repudiation of measurement data and DCCs. The implementation of these technologies in industrial applications is demonstrated with a use case of data exchange in a smart overhead crane. The presented system was tested and validated in providing security against data tampering attacks.
Open access
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Luís T. A. N. Brandão, Carlos Galhardo, René Peralta
Abstract Software-controlled measuring instruments used in commercial transactions, such as fuel dispensers and smart meters, are sometimes subject to “memory replacement” attacks. Cybercriminals replace the approved software by a malicious one that then tampers with measurement results, inflicting a financial loss to customers and companies. To mitigate such attacks, legal metrology systems often require regular device attestation, where an auditor checks that the device possesses (“knows”) the approved software. However, current attestation methods usually require the software to be known by the auditor, thus increasing the risk of inadvertent leakage or malicious theft of proprietary information, besides facilitating its malicious adulteration. We describe how this issue can be addressed in legal metrology systems by using zero-knowledge proofs of knowledge (ZKPoK). These proofs enable attestation of possession of approved software, while ensuring its confidentiality from the auditor. To further provide publicly verifiable evidence of freshness, each such proof can be related to a fresh random value from a public randomness beacon. This article presents the basic conceptual idea, while also discussing pitfalls that should be avoided.
Open access
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
M. Vijayalakshmi, S. Mercy Shalinie, Ming‐Hour Yang, Shou-Chuan Lai · 5 authors
Supply chain management (SCM) governance is the streamline of the IoT product life cycle from its production to delivery. Integrating blockchain with supply chain management is essential to ensure end-to-end tracking, trustiness between manufacturers and customers, fraud and counterfeit elimination, and customizing administrative costs and paperwork. This paper proposes an RFID ownership transfer protocol with the help of zk-SNARKs (Zero Knowledge-Succinct Noninteractive Arguments of Knowledge) using Ethereum blockchain. When the owner performs RFID transfer, the transferred information will be recorded on the blockchain using smart contracts. When using a smart contract to transfer ownership on the Ethereum blockchain, because the content on the blockchain will not be tampered with, all accounts in the Ethereum can view the transfer results and verify them. The privacy of the supply chain is attained by generating the proof of product code via zk-SNARKs algorithm. This algorithm also enhances the scalability of the supply chain system by creating a trusted setup in off-chain mode.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
As a result of the increasingly pervasive deployment of the Internet of Things(IoT), the cybersecurity of IoT has already attracted more and more research efforts. Identity management is believed to be the fundamental keystone to build security mechanisms. The traditional centralized identity management scheme suffers from a single point of failure and identity forgery. A secure IoT system framework was proposed leveraging blockchain as the basic infrastructure with Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) identifying the sensors uniquely. We brought up a scheme to improve the identity authentication protocol. Experiments showed that our approach was more effective and secure against attacks.
Open access
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Antonio Cabrera, Encarnación Castillo, Antonio Escobar-Molero, José Antonio Álvarez Bermejo · 6 authors
Hardware Security Modules (HSM) serve as a hardware based root of trust that offers physical protection while adding a new security layer in the system architecture. When combined with decentralized access technologies as Blockchain, HSM offers robustness and complete reliability enabling secured end-to-end mechanisms for authenticity, authorization and integrity. This work proposes an efficient integration of HSM and Blockchain technologies focusing on, mainly, public-key cryptography algorithms and standards, that result crucial in order to achieve a successful combination of the mentioned technologies to improve the overall security in Industrial IoT systems. To prove the suitability of the proposal and the interaction of an IoT node and a Blockchain network using HSM a proof of concept is developed. Results of time performance analysis of the prototype reveal how promising the combination of HSMs in Blockchain environments is.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Counterfeit electronic devices can cause a significant revenue loss and brand value damage to the original component manufacturers (OCM). In addition, they can instigate serious safety and security issues in critical military and space applications. These devices can be injected by untrusted entities in the supply chain, such as outsourced foundries, distributors, PCB assemblers, and system integrators. Existing methods for device authenticity verification are either destructive, require an advanced electrical test or physical inspection infrastructure. Furthermore, the existing database query-based verification systems by OCMs provide an illusion of authenticity verification by looking for a device record in their online system. In reality, a customer may have bought a cloned or recycled copy of an electronic device and may find a valid record in the OCM verification system. This paper presents a blockchain-centric solution to address these limitations to verify electronic devices. A detailed study is presented to transform an existing supply chain into a trustworthy distributed ledger framework calledeChain(electronic Chain).eChaingenerates device provenance records from blockchain that users can utilize to classify authentic and counterfeit ICs. A fully functional prototype ofeChainis developed to demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed solution.
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Diogo Costa, Miguel Teixeira, Armando N. Pinto, José Santos
Abstract Integration of blockchain systems into industrial applications show promise in increasing security, trust, and transparency along the value-chain during product and process tracking. However, current solutions suffer performance deficiencies, or often disregard legacy devices still in operation. We propose a blockchain system built upon an IoT architecture that is secure, modular, easily scalable, and deployable for fast certification of manufacturing data, compatible with current industrial landscapes. First, the proposed architecture is presented along with elements required to manage network functions. Second, easing integration with existing manufacturing solutions, custom APIs are created and subsequently explained. This grants the platform plug-and-play capabilities, requiring minimal hardware and software configuration for deployment. Lastly, a prototype is designed to validate the solution, concluding the viability of the proposed architecture as a fast and secure certification method of manufacturing data.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
IoT and Edge/Fog Computing
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Chandan Kumar, Urbi Chatterjee, Debdeep Mukhopadhayay
Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs) primitives and blockchain technologies, also known as PUFchain, are recently taking huge attention to integrate the security parameters in Supply Chain Management (SCM) system. In this work, we devise a technique to interface an electronic chip and a blockchain platform by providing access to a unique hardware fingerprint and the stored information of chips on blockchain at one single point. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only scalable and automated technique that has been successfully implemented to authenticate the hardware device at any stage of the supply chain management system. The technique realises the concept of embedded PUF instance and the smart contract deployment on the ethereum blockchain. In the proposed technique, we have highly reduced the cost of implementing the interaction by storing the CRP on a distributed file system called as InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). Further, we implement and analyse the interfacing for ‘IC traceability’ to ensure the current ownership of a product, its point of origin, and ownership history in the SCM system. We employ Nexys 4 DDR Artix-7 FPGA board and go-ethereum blockchain library for implementing “IC traceability” to demonstrate the workflow and overhead involved in our interfacing technique.
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Integrated Circuits and Semiconductor Failure Analysis
Rapid advances in the Internet of Video Things (IoVT) deployment in modern smart cities has enabled secure infrastructures with minimal human intervention. However, attacks on audio-video inputs affect the reliability of large-scale multimedia surveillance systems as attackers are able to manipulate the perception of live events. For example, Deepfake audio/video attacks and frame duplication attacks can cause significant security breaches. This paper proposes a Lightweight Environmental Fingerprint Consensus based detection of compromised smart cameras in edge surveillance systems (LEFC). LEFC is a partial decentralized authentication mechanism that leverages Electrical Network Frequency (ENF) as an environmental fingerprint and distributed ledger technology (DLT). An ENF signal carries randomly fluctuating spatio-temporal signatures, which enable digital media authentication. With the proposed DLT consensus mechanism named Proof-of-ENF (PoENF) as a backbone, LEFC can estimate and authenticate the media recording and detect byzantine nodes controlled by the perpetrator. The experimental evaluation shows feasibility and effectiveness of proposed LEFC scheme under a distributed byzantine network environment.
Digital Media Forensic Detection
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Many popular cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, form consensus through a method known as Proof of Work. Problematically, current implementations of Proof of Work require immense amounts of energy consumption, where a majority of this energy is spent solely on securing consensus. Our focus is not to directly decrease energy consumption, but to allow for more useful and pragmatic computation to come from Proof of Work, such that energy is saved by not running these computational tasks separately. In this paper, we create a template for Proof of Work protocols, such that if followed, can guarantee similar security assurances as to the Proof of Work present in Bitcoin. Secondarily, we also develop “useful” prototypes based on this template.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Security and Verification in Computing
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Abstract As new authentic products are introduced into the market, counterfeiting has always been on the rise. In 2015, the global economic loss caused by counterfeiting is more than 1.7 trillion US dollars and has been increasing annually. Therefore, an inexpensive but efficient anti‐counterfeiting platform must be developed to end counterfeiting. Here, a wireless platform for the anti‐counterfeiting with an item‐tracking is developed by integrating printed four key‐device units, a 13.56 MHz rectenna (wireless power transmission), supercapacitors (power storage), 1‐bit code generator chip (logic code), and an electrophoretic based quick response code (memory). Our near‐field communication quick response code label platform is inexpensive and effective by utilizing blockchains and high throughput roll‐to‐roll printed devices. When practically applied, the near field communication quick response code label wirelessly operates through a near field communication carrier signal from a smartphone to demonstrate anti‐cloning and authentic item‐tracking through its interconnection with the blockchain.
Energy Harvesting in Wireless Networks
RFID technology advancements
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
The rapid advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) and wide deployment of Internet of Video Things (IoVT) enable situation awareness (SAW). The robustness and security of IoVT systems are essential for a sustainable urban environment. While blockchain technology has shown great potential in enabling trust-free and decentralized security mechanisms, directly embedding cryptocurrency oriented blockchain schemes into resource-constrained Internet of Video Things (IoVT) networks at the edge is not feasible. By leveraging Electrical Network Frequency (ENF) signals extracted from multimedia recordings as region-of-recording proofs, this paper proposes EconLedger, an ENF-based consensus mechanism that enables secure and lightweight distributed ledgers for small-scale IoVT edge networks. The proposed consensus mechanism relies on a novel Proof-of-ENF (PoENF) algorithm where a validator is qualified to generate a new block if and only if a proper ENF-containing multimedia signal proof is produced within the current round. The decentralized database (DDB) is adopted in order to guarantee efficiency and resilience of raw ENF proofs on the off-chain storage. A proof-of-concept prototype is developed and tested in a physical IoVT network environment. The experimental results validated the feasibility of the proposed EconLedger to provide a trust-free and partially decentralized security infrastructure for IoVT edge networks.
Open access
2 source records
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
IoT and Edge/Fog Computing
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
The integration of Internet of Things (IoT) and industry reveals the industrial manufacturing developments, resulting in Industry IoT (IIoT), which is to provide a general interconnect system for the access of various industry devices. However, as the amount and type of terminal increase, the creditability and privacy protection of terminal devices are hard to be guaranteed in IIoT, since the data and digital identity of access devices are nearly transparent for more devices in networks. It is a critical issue for the security of IIoT whether the access and service of device are trustworthy. In this article, we present a novel private blockchain-enabled trusted anonymous access (BlockTrust) architecture for IIoT, where the distributed cloud radio and optical access networks (C-RONs) are considered to provide a risk reduction of privacy leakage. Based on the BlockTrust architecture, a blockchain-enabled tripartite anonymous identification trusted service provisioning (TriTrustServ) scheme is further proposed to guarantee a balanced tradeoff among the credibility, confidentiality, and efficiency in IIoT, including digital identity generation, anonymous access identification, and trusted resource provisioning. Note that for the sake of a high credibility in IIoT networks, a tripartite authentication is presented in this article with the first time among device manufacturer, devices, and network operator for the access process of device in IIoT networks. The feasibility and efficiency of BlockTrust architecture are experimentally verified in the realistic testbed, and the performances of the TriTrustServ scheme are evaluated by comparing with two benchmark schemes in the terms of average mistrust rate, resource utilization, and identification cost.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
IoT and Edge/Fog Computing
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Dimitris Mouris, Charles Gouert, Nektarios Georgios Tsoutsos
The rapid growth of the globalized integrated circuit (IC) supply chain has drawn the attention of numerous malicious actors that try to exploit it for profit. One of the most prominent targets of such parties is the third-party intellectual property (3PIP) vendors and their circuit designs. With the increasing number of transactions between vendors and system integrators, the threat of IP reuse and piracy has become a significant consideration for the IC industry. What is more, the correctness of 3PIP designs should be verified before integration, imposing another challenge for 3PIP vendors since they have to prove the functionality of their designs to system integrators while protecting the privacy of the circuit implementations. To eliminate this deadlock, we utilize the cryptographic technique of “zero-knowledge proofs” to enable 3PIP vendors to convince system integrators about various functional properties of a circuit (e.g., area, power, and frequency) without disclosing its netlist (i.e., in zero-knowledge). Our approach comprises a circuit compiler that transforms arbitrary netlists into a zero knowledge-friendly format and a library of modules that provide cryptographic guarantees for various properties of the netlist while hiding the actual gates. We evaluate our method using combinational and sequential circuits from the ISCAS and ITC benchmark suites.
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Diego F. Aranha, Sebastian Berndt, Thomas Eisenbarth, Okan Seker · 7 authors
We study masking countermeasures for side-channel attacks against signature schemes constructed from the MPC-in-the-head paradigm, specifically when the MPC protocol uses preprocessing. This class of signature schemes includes Picnic, an alternate candidate in the third round of the NIST post-quantum standardization project. The only previously known approach to masking MPC-in-the-head signatures suffers from interoperability issues and increased signature sizes. Further, we present a new attack to demonstrate that known countermeasures are not sufficient when the MPC protocol uses a preprocessing phase, as in Picnic3.We overcome these challenges by showing how to mask the underlying zero-knowledge proof system due to Katz–Kolesnikov–Wang (CCS 2018) for any masking order, and by formally proving that our approach meets the standard security notions of non-interference for masking countermeasures. As a case study, we apply our masking technique to Picnic. We then implement different masked versions of Picnic signing providing first order protection for the ARM Cortex M4 platform, and quantify the overhead of these different masking approaches. We carefully analyze the side-channel risk of hashing operations, and give optimizations that reduce the CPU cost of protecting hashing in Picnic by a factor of five. The performance penalties of the masking countermeasures ranged from 1.8 to 5.5, depending on the degree of masking applied to hash function invocations.
Open access
Cryptographic Implementations and Security
Chaos-based Image/Signal Encryption
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Rahul Saha, Gulshan Kumar, G. Geetha, Tai-hoon Kim · 8 authors
In this paper, an Internet of Energy (IoE) solution for providing optimal charging and control of resources in the era of electric vehicles (EVs) with energy trading and security is considered. A blockchain based security solution is presented by considering the IoE as a distributed energy system with internet of things (IoT). However, by inheriting the security concerns of IoTs, IoE also faces the security challenges and is considered here. Hierarchical key generation is used for cryptographic keys, based on lattice constructions. Along with a consensus tailored with Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), an additional smart contract is also applied for utilization of energy transfer. The presented solution provides transparency, reliability, availability and failure recovery inheriting from the blockchain aspects. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first attempt in this direction of IoE-EV interface solutions. The experimental results, comparative analysis and security validation affirm the superiority of the proposed solution over the existing approaches.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security