Recently, most people have been looking for smart services that allow them to do their daily services directly without having to visit local businesses and providers [1]. As observed in recent times, citizens can now apply to open their own commercial file or obtain a passport without having to visit the country's economic institution or the Immigration and Passports headquarters. Additionally, applying or opening accounts in virtual banks also added a lot of services and facilities for users and transactions between countries that can be rapidly provisioned with minimal effort [2]. All these transactions require the user's authentication and identity verification to avoid any personal fraud and save the user's rights Blockchain technology stands out as one of the most secure technologies available enabling secure transactions without the need for a central authority. Starting in 2009 1, with Bitcoin leveraging blockchain technology, there has been an increasing number of blockchain technology-based solutions. The significance of this work compared to its predecessors is that it uses an existing product and technology to prove the solutions offered by Blockchain and find a solution for authorization and authentication.
Anitha Julian, Gerardine Immaculate Mary, S. Sharmila Deva Selvi, Mayur Rele · 5 authors
Securing sensitive user information and maintaining privacy during authentication and authorization processes is crucial in today’s interconnected digital world. This study investigates new approaches to tackle these obstacles by combining blockchain technology with Trusted Execution Environment (TEE). The proposed system introduces a new method that combines the advantages of both technologies to create a strong and privacy-focused framework for network security. The study assesses the effectiveness of the suggested system based on key parameters, focusing specifically on Transaction Throughput (TPS) and Latency. The combination of blockchain and TEE aims to improve privacy protection and security protocols, providing a dependable solution for privacy-focused authentication and authorization in network settings. The experiments confirmed the efficacy of the proposed model. The Transaction Throughput (TPS) reached 296 transactions per second, demonstrating the system’s scalability and capacity to manage a large number of transactions. The Latency was measured at 54 milliseconds, indicating a fast and responsive authentication and authorization process. The research enhances the development of privacy-preserving solutions by emphasizing the importance of the blockchain and TEE collaboration. The proposed model surpasses performance expectations set by traditional methods, positioning itself as a significant advancement in network security. The results highlight the system’s ability to significantly improve privacy protection in digital transactions and set the stage for advancements in secure, efficient, and privacy-focused authentication and authorization systems. between the quantity demand and the price.
Syed M. Aqleem Abbas, Muazzam A. Khan, Wadii Boulila, Anis Kouba · 6 authors
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be used as drones’ edge Intelligence to assist with data collection, training models, and communication over wireless networks. UAV use for smart cities is rapidly growing in various industries, including tracking and surveillance, military defense, managing healthcare delivery, wireless communications, and more. In traditional machine learning techniques, an enormous amount of sensor data from UAVs must be shared to central storage to perform model training, which poses serious privacy risks and risks of misuse of information. The federated learning technique (FL), which can be applied to UAVs, is a promising means of collaboratively training a global model while retaining local access to sensitive raw data. Despite this, FL is a significant communication burden for battery-constrained UAVs due to local model training and global synchronization frequency. In this article, we address the major challenges associated with UAV-based FL for smart cities, including single-point failure, privacy leakage, scalability, and global model verification. To tackle these challenges, we present a differentially private federated learning framework based on Accumulative Reputation-based Selection (ARS) for the edge-aided UAV network that utilizes blockchains to prevent single-point failures where we switched from central control to decentralized control, Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for off-chain model storage and their respective hash-keys on-chain to ensure model integrity. Due to IPFS, the size of the blockchain will be reduced, and local differential privacy will be applied to prevent privacy leakages. In the proposed framework, an aggregator will be selected based on its ARS score and model verification by the validators. After most validators approve it, it will be available for use. Several parameters are taken into consideration during evaluation, including accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and time consumption. It also evaluates the number of edge computers vs test accuracy, the number of edge computers vs time consumption for global model convergence, and the number of rounds vs test accuracy. This is done by considering two benchmark datasets: MNIST and CIFAR-10. The results show that the proposed work preserves privacy while achieving high accuracy. Moreover, it is scalable to accommodate many participants.
Archana Chhabra, Rahul Saha, Gulshan Kumar, Tai-hoon Kim
Blockchain networks provide a reliable and secure mode of communication due to their decentralized and distributed nature. The emergence of amalgamated blockchain-based internet-of-things (IoT) systems has generated a huge amount of data to be online. Though blockchains show potential for ensuring transparency, traceability, and immutable records, the privacy of online data in blockchains becomes a question. The privacy of blockchain transactions is at stake as various privacy breaching methods are used by attackers such as linking the transactions, deanonymization, etc. However, the benefits of blockchain make the technology a dominator in the present and future technological paradigms. The other side of the coin deals with privacy information retrieval (PIR), which is necessary to retrieve private information from servers without much revealing. However, the conjunction of blockchain privacy and PIR is very critical and an important aspect of blockchain solutions. In this present survey, we pioneer in analyzing the privacy factors of existing blockchain solutions. We discuss the privacy parameters and important privacy enhancement techniques for blockchains comprehensively. We show the applicability of privacy in various domains including e-commerce, supply chain, healthcare, and IoT. We also discuss PIR-related issues and solutions in the existing literature. We highlight open research problems and discuss the benefits of collaborating with PIR and blockchain systems to improve privacy in blockchains. Our survey is beneficial for academia and industries to be aware of the present status of privacy solutions in blockchains and to address the identified loopholes to make the systems better.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
As the metaverse gains traction, the importance of metaverse security research becomes increasingly evident. While there has been research on authenticating users in the metaverse, there is a notable gap in research concerning the authentication of specific spaces within the metaverse. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a novel user-centric blockchain-based authentication approach that incorporates space authentication. The proposed approach leverages blockchain smart contracts to authenticate users using cosine similarity metrics. A significant advantage of this approach its ability to establish user-centric authentication by seamlessly integrating metaverse and blockchain technologies, all without the need for a centralized authority. In this paper, we not only evaluate the security of our proposed approach but also conduct experiments to determine the cosine similarity threshold and assess its feasibility within a metaverse environment.
In the realm of digital advertising, trust and transparency are vital for sustainable and effective marketing strategies. However, the industry grapples with challenges such as ad fraud, data privacy violations, and opacity in ad placements. Blockchain technology emerges as a promising solution to decode trust and foster transparency in digital advertising. Blockchain, initially developed for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, offers a decentralized and immutable ledger, ensuring data integrity without intermediaries. Applied to digital advertising, blockchain can revolutionize transparency by providing a tamper-proof record of ad transactions. Smart contracts automate agreements, enhancing accountability and ensuring fair compensation. Key findings reveal the potential benefits of blockchain in digital advertising. Firstly, it enhances accountability and transparency by tracing advertising funds and verifying ad authenticity. Smart contracts automate payments, reducing ad fraud and increasing supply chain accountability. Secondly, blockchain mitigates ad fraud by providing transparent ad transaction records and leveraging decentralized identity verification to authenticate users. Thirdly, transparency fosters consumer trust and confidence, empowering informed decision-making and benefiting the entire ecosystem. However, challenges persist, including technical scalability, interoperability, and regulatory compliance. Adherence to data privacy regulations and integration with existing ad tech infrastructure are crucial considerations. Organizational and cultural barriers, along with industry fragmentation, hinder blockchain adoption. Future directions and opportunities lie in tokenization, decentralized identifiers, and zero-knowledge proofs, promising solutions to existing challenges. Collaboration among stakeholders is essential to develop standards and protocols, overcoming barriers to blockchain adoption. Continued research, innovation, and collaboration are necessary to realize the full potential of blockchain in promoting trust and transparency in digital advertising. DOI: https://doi.org/10.52783/eel.v14i2.1539
Financial institutions using blockchain smart contracts need to adhere to real-world regulations. Data on blockchain is easily accessible, so privacy protection is crucial. Our goal is to introduce an efficient protocol that satisfies both user privacy protection and hierarchical regulatory requirements, without the need for zero-knowledge proofs. To achieve this, we have developed two innovative design strategies. Firstly, we envision financial institutions serving as transaction mixers for their users. This approach offers an additional layer of privacy by obfuscating the source of each transaction. Secondly, we depend on regulatory agencies to oversee the compliance of blockchain transactions. This ensures that our protocol aligns with regulatory requirements while maintaining user privacy. The resulting protocol offers superior privacy protection for user transactions, with provable security and computational efficiency.
Blockchain-based solutions offer a promising avenue for privacy-preserving authentication and authorization mechanisms. Through the immutable and decentralized nature of blockchain, individuals can maintain control over their personal data while still engaging in secure transactions and interactions. These solutions leverage cryptographic techniques to ensure privacy, such as zero-knowledge proofs, which allow one party to prove possession of certain information without revealing the information itself.By storing authentication and authorization data on the blockchain, users can access services without having to repeatedly provide sensitive information. Smart contracts can automate authorization processes, ensuring that only authorized parties can access certain resources or perform specific actions. Additionally, blockchain-based identity systems offer a self-sovereign approach, where individuals have full control over their digital identities, reducing the reliance on centralized authorities. Moreover, blockchain networks provide transparency and auditability, allowing users to track how their data is being used and ensuring compliance with privacy regulations. However, challenges such as scalability, interoperability, and user adoption remain to be addressed for widespread implementation. Overall, blockchain-based solutions hold great potential in providing privacy-preserving authentication and authorization while empowering individuals with greater control over their data.Blockchain-based solutions offer a promising avenue for privacy-preserving authentication and authorization mechanisms. Through the immutable and decentralized nature of blockchain, individuals can maintain control over their personal data while still engaging in secure transactions and interactions. These solutions leverage cryptographic techniques to ensure privacy, such as zero-knowledge proofs, which allow one party to prove possession of certain information without revealing the information itself.
David Frempong, Chigozie Emmanuel Benson, Odunayo Oyasiji, Adeola Okesiji
The digitization of healthcare records and the proliferation of patient data across interconnected systems have raised significant concerns about privacy, regulatory compliance, and consent management. Traditional methods of obtaining and maintaining patient consent are often fragmented, static, and non-compliant with dynamic legal standards such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This paper explores a blockchain-enabled framework for consent management in healthcare, focusing on enforcing patient privacy preferences and regulatory compliance. Through a comprehensive review of existing literature and frameworks, this paper proposes a decentralized consent management architecture leveraging smart contracts and distributed ledger technologies to provide secure, transparent, and tamper-proof consent enforcement. The study also outlines the potential of blockchain to automate compliance tracking, enhance interoperability, and empower patients with granular control over their health data. Recommendations for future research directions and technical challenges are also presented.
This article explores the importance of putting users at the center of consent processes, in Single Sign On (SSO) systems to tackle privacy issues and empower user independence. It dives into the world of SSO systems shedding light on their privacy weaknesses and the need for users to have control over how their data is shared. By looking at privacy focused SSO solutions and their drawbacks the article suggests a plan to give users control over their data sharing preferences during authentication. The main elements of this plan include a user consent management interface, consent choices, educational materials, preference persistence and tracking logs. Additionally it talks about the obstacles in implementing consent driven SSO systems like creating consent APIs and incorporating privacy boosting technologies such as zero knowledge proofs and decentralized identity frameworks. By tackling these hurdles and promoting designs that prioritize users the article aims to help create authentication solutions that prioritize privacy in line, with changing regulations and user desires.
Vladimir Popov, Mikhail Krupin, Andrew Gross, Georgi Koreli
New advancements in zero-knowledge proof construction, including improvements in user experience, have made blockchain-based privacy applications more accessible than ever.However, additional measures are required to balance the needs of regulators, the basic privacy rights of users, and the constant threat of bad actors.To address these issues, privacy protocols can introduce features designed to increase transparency, encourage compliance, and prevent illicit use.In this paper, current privacy-preserving methods (privacy pools) are explained along with compliance measures designed to prevent illicit usage.These measures are divided into three broad categories: general restrictions, such as transaction limits, deposit quarantine, and geoblocking; selective disclosure, such as privacy-preserving KYC, proof of innocence, and opt-in reporting; and threat identification and prevention, including AML wallet screening.Each of these methods are described in detail along with examples of three privacypreserving protocols (Hinkal, RAILGUN, and zkBob) which utilize varying combinations of these methodologies to achieve privacy informed by selfregulatory compliance.
Building smart services for smart cities has become a significant focus of the Internet of Things (IoT). These IoT devices are able to sense their surroundings and react appropriately. Smart city applications emphasize the necessity of safe data sharing across heterogeneous devices. Certain behaviors taken while sharing could aim at compromising security, privacy, and integrity. The centralized repository that is currently in place made the majority of hacks possible. The sharing of sensitive data and authentication are essential stages in guaranteeing the security of applications associated with IoT. Blockchain and IoT are two widely used technologies, with IoT focusing on data collection via various devices and blockchain enabling data integrity. This paper introduces a novel blockchain-based framework to ensure the security and integrity aspects of IoT data. The proposed SecPrivPreserve framework ensures security through various phases including initialization, registration, data protection, authentication, data access control, validation, and data sharing and download. Diverse security mechanisms such as passwords (OTP), encryption, and hashing have been deployed in various phases to strengthen security merits confidentiality, privacy, and integrity. Since the SecPrivPreserve framework is simulated in a permissioned blockchain platform the merits and tamper-proof and non-repudiation are automatically considered. Moreover, data protection uses Chebyshev polynomials and interpolation. The presented framework has experimented with Fabric SDK. The experimental results of the proposed framework are compared with the BaseLine state-of-the-frameworks, The experimental analysis reveals that the proposed SecPrivPreserve approach achieved 34 Sec improvement in terms of responsiveness 94 Sec as computational time, encryption quality as 0.87 Sec and 0.82 Sec for detection rate.