May 7, 2025·2025 2nd International Conference on Research Methodologies in Knowledge Management, Artificial Intelligence and Telecommunication Engineering (RMKMATE)
Digital advancement is restructuring governance and electoral systems which significantly has increased the adoption of electronic voting (e-voting). E-voting has various advantages like being fast, easily accessible and being more transparent than ever. But it has some security concerns like manipulation, data breaches etc. One of the most lightening issues is the advancement of quantum computing. Various traditional protocols like the Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) and RSA are prone towards quantum attack which causes e-voting to rely on classical techniques for authentication, confidentiality and integrity. To address these concerns, the concept of quantum-resistant decentralised voting mechanisms has emerged. These mechanisms integrate post-quantum cryptographic techniques to safeguard election integrity in a future where quantum computers may compromise existing cryptographic frameworks. Blockchain technology, homomorphic encryption and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) collectively enhance security, verification process and voter privacy while mitigating the risks of quantum threats.
The investigation of Bitcoin network topology has garnered significant academic attention due to its potential to enhance blockchain system performance and strengthen network robustness. However, current Bitcoin P2P network topology reconstruction mechanisms face four critical limitations: inefficient topology recovery, reliance on obsolete protocols, poor compatibility with new protocol versions, and disruptive impacts on network operations. To address these challenges, we initiate our study from Bitcoin's network formation mechanisms. Through longitudinal analysis of client version control histories, we systematically trace the architectural evolution of its P2P network and perform the first protocol-level reverse engineering with the node discovery mechanism. Building on these insights, we propose a novel graph-theoretic analytical framework that introduces fresh perspectives for blockchain topology analysis. Our experimental validation on the live Bitcoin network identified 8,106 active nodes with 1.8 million connection edges, demonstrating a 38% improvement in node discovery efficiency over existing approaches. Comparative analysis further quantified the operational intrusiveness of mainstream connection restoration methods, confirming our method's capability to achieve complete topology reconstruction under non-intrusive conditions. These findings substantially expand the research horizons for blockchain network analysis by establishing an extended foundational network scope and delivering comprehensive topological datasets, providing critical infrastructure insights for future blockchain architecture research.
Abstract—The integrity and transparency of voting systems are fundamental to the democratic process; however, traditional voting mechanisms often encounter issues such as fraud, manipulation, limited transparency, and centralized control. To address these challenges, this research proposes a decentralized voting system utilizing blockchain technology. The system leverages the Ethereum blockchain, smart contracts developed in Solidity, and a React.js-based frontend integrated with Web3.js and MetaMask to ensure secure voter authentication, transparent vote casting, and immutable vote recording. Voter and candidate registrations are managed through decentralized smart contracts, and all transactions are permanently stored on the blockchain, providing public verifiability while preserving voter anonymity. Development and testing were conducted in a simulated environment using Ganache and the Truffle Suite, allowing for extensive validation of system functionalities. Experimental results demonstrate enhanced security, real-time result computation, prevention of double voting, and elimination of any single point of failure. This decentralized architecture significantly improves trust, transparency, and security in electoral processes, offering a scalable and reliable model for the future of electronic voting systems. Index Terms— Blockchain, Decentralized Voting, Ethereum, Smart Contracts, Solidity, Web3.js, MetaMask, Ganache, Truffle Framework, E-voting Systems.
Gaurav Naik, M D Manoj, S. Nithin, Y.K. Guruprasad · 6 authors
Existing e-voting systems aim to digitize voting but face challenges in security, transparency, and trust. Many rely on centralized architectures, this makes them susceptible to cyberattacks and unauthorized intrusions, data manipulation, and unauthorized access. These systems often lack mechanisms to ensure voter anonymity while maintaining vote integrity, raising concerns about privacy breaches and vote tampering. Auditing and verifying results is difficult, as tracing votes without compromising privacy remains a challenge. These limitations reduce public trust, especially in large-scale elections where doubts about system integrity can lead to disputes and unrest. A blockchain-based e voting system offers a decentralized, transparent, and tamper proof solution. Blockchain technology provides an immutable ledger, securing each vote against alteration or deletion. Decentralization eliminates the need for a central authority, reducing risks of hacking and fraud. Cryptographic techniques ensure voter anonymity while verifying vote authenticity, addressing privacy concerns. Real-time auditability allows independent verification, enhancing transparency and trust in the process. This approach strengthens security, improves reliability, and fosters a trustworthy election platform.
5G is the most recent technology standard for cellular networks, and one of its key elements is the Radio Access Networks (RAN), which furthers the enabling of the 5G basic capabilities: enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Massive Machine-Type Communication (mMTC), and Ultra-Reliable, Low-Latency Communication (URLLC). To meet the capabilities required by 5G use cases, 5G is distributed, virtualized, and architecturally more complex than previous generations. These capabilities bring benefits but introduce risks and security challenges that must be addressed through controls designed to support and secure 5G services across any operator cloud. Therefore, this paper focuses on studying and evaluating security mechanisms used in RANs. Special attention is given to Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) since they are one of the most studied topics regarding security enhancement. DLTs could bring advantages for improving network security through encryption to protect the information and automate verification and execution of transactions. For this reason, we carried out a systematic review, extracting and analyzing data from 39 papers from 2010 to 2023. Our main results list RAN-related susceptible security dimensions, vulnerabilities, and possible attacks and threats. We also show how DLTs can enhance RANs and present other considered mechanisms to increase RAN security. • The evolution of mobile communication based on openness, softwarization, and virtualization inserts new vulnerabilities into networks. • The increasing number of connected devices, especially IoT ones, is a security attention point in mobile networks. • Various security mechanisms, including Distributed ledger technologies (DLT), may enhance RAN security once these technologies can increase system resilience. • Other security approaches may also address RAN security issues.
Federated Learning (FL) offers a distributed approach to machine learning that preserves data privacy by avoiding the exchange of sensitive IoT sensor information. This paper introduces a novel IoT framework that integrates advanced security tools to tackle key privacy and security challenges. It employs Decentralized Attribute-Based Encryption (DABE) for decentralized authentication and data encryption, Homomorphic Encryption (HE) for secure computations on encrypted data, Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMPC) for collaborative processing, and Blockchain for distributed ledger management and transparent communication. In this system, IoT devices encrypt data locally with DABE, while initial model training occurs on cloud servers within an immutable blockchain network that supports peer-to-peer authentication. Encrypted model weights are then transferred to the fog layer via HE and aggregated using SMPC, after which the FL server updates and distributes the global model to the IoT devices. This innovative framework effectively addresses the challenges of secure decentralized learning, enabling privacy-preserving, efficient, and secure federated learning for IoT applications and real-time analytics.
Public elections are one of the bases upon which a democracy is built in many countries. Blockchain, an evolving and groundbreaking technology can be used to implement the elections. The online voting system along with trust among the voters drastically increases the number of voters participating in the election, in turn defining a true democracy. One of the most promising methods that are available to implement the election using Blockchain is Proof of Work. It is a necessary part of adding new blocks to the blockchain but consumes many computing resources. This is the precise time to move the application from Proof of Work(PoW) to other consensus algorithms that are available. This paper intends to compare the performance of the consensus algorithms based on the Voting system. The application is first built using Ethereum which uses PoW as the consensus algorithm. Then the voting system is built using the hyperledger sawtooth framework which offers PoET and pBFT. To compare the performance of both systems, metrics like throughput and latency are planned to be considered.
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
M. Santhiya, S. Arshik, P. Rajendra Prasanth, Vivek Kumar · 5 authors
Traditional voting systems, both paper and electronic, suffer from major security, transparency, and fraud-prevention challenges. Paper ballots are vulnerable to manipulation and logistical concerns, whereas electronic voting machines may be hacked into and manipulated. Centralized systems also create problems of voter anonymity, accessibility, and auditability. VoteBlock, an online voting system built on blockchain technology, takes advantage of the decentralized and immutable features of blockchain. VoteBlock utilizes a distributed ledger to prevent single points of failure, such that no single entity can modify or manage the voting process. Every vote is encrypted and written as a transaction on the blockchain, with real-time verifiability at no cost to voter privacy. Multi-factor authentication is used to protect access and keep unauthorized voting at bay. The open architecture makes it possible for election officials and auditors to validate results cost-effectively and reliably. VoteBlock was prototyped and tested under various conditions to measure performance metrics including transaction speed, network latency, and security scalability. The testing proved that VoteBlock successfully inhibits double voting and tampering with votes, providing an elevated solution that heightens the security, transparency, and credibility of contemporary voting systems.
Online social platforms for digital communication necessitate an in-depth understanding of their evolving dynamics, especially after the renewal requests brought about by new paradigms, such as Web3. The dynamics within online social networks (OSNs) are influenced by numerous factors, encompassing user behavior, content generation, platform features, and technological advancements, with triadic closure standing out as a prominent and influential element. In this study, we focus on the temporal aspects of triadic closure and its role in the evolution of OSNs, especially after the advent of the Web3 paradigm. By analyzing networks with timestamped links from diverse platforms based on different architectures, including communication, Web3-based, and trade networks, we developed a comprehensive analytical pipeline to support the study of triadic closure patterns. This pipeline includes an algorithm for the census of time-ordered triads, a vector-based model for representing growing networks (growth triadic profile), the identification of triadic closure rules (TERs), and the evaluation of the speed of the formation of closed triads. Our findings reveal significant variations in the impact of triadic closure across different OSNs, marked by diverse growth triadic profiles and varying formation speeds of closed triads as well as diversity in the predictability of evolutionary patterns based on triads. This study not only enhances the comprehension of triadic closure in the temporal evolution of OSNs but also provides valuable insights to be taken into account for the design and administration of online social platforms.
Esma Beydili, Umut Can Çabuk, Gökhan Dalkılıç, Yusuf Öztürk
Smart contracts are one of the main drivers of advances in blockchain technology and its applications, like e-voting. This study proposes the integration of Shamir's Secret Sharing (SSS) algorithm into blockchain-based electronic voting (e-voting) systems powered by smart contracts to enhance voter privacy without compromising integrity. We developed a prototype on Ethereum using Remix IDE and validated the design over a test network using test accounts. We evaluated this integration based on cost, complexity, privacy, and accessibility metrics. We examined existing privacy-enhancing solutions and focused on their application within e-voting systems. Our analysis considers gas fees on Ethereum as well as the computational and data storage overheads caused by SSS. Although the current implementation of secret sharing falls short of preserving privacy (due to inherent transparency of smart contracts), it shows that it can successfully obfuscate the candidate selection of voters. Accessibility is measured through the time required for system access and vote casting. Overall, our results indicate that while integrating SSS increases cost and system complexity, it holds significant potential for enhancing privacy in e-voting systems.
Purpose This study aims to propose blockchain-based covert data transmission schemes for modern decentralized applications, addressing the challenges of secure covert communication in resource-constrained environments. The research seeks to enhance the covertness and efficiency of communications in Web3.0 environments, where transparency and decentralized architectures dominate. Design/methodology/approach Two blockchain-based lightweight covert data transmission schemes are proposed. The first scheme involves sharing private keys, while the second scheme avoids sharing private keys to prevent the potential loss of digital currency. Both schemes are designed to be implemented on lightweight devices. The solutions were tested on Raspberry Pi and the Ethereum Testnet to assess their feasibility. Findings The results demonstrate that both schemes improve covertness and efficiency for Web3.0-compatible devices. The second scheme, which avoids sharing private keys, effectively addresses the risk of blockchain private key leakage while maintaining low resource consumption. These findings provide evidence that the proposed solutions are suitable for lightweight devices and offer enhanced security without compromising performance. Originality/value This research offers a novel approach to covert data transmission in Web3.0 environments by leveraging blockchain technology. It provides valuable insights into secure communication methods, contributing to the development of efficient and secure data transmission mechanisms for decentralized applications. The study’s findings highlight areas for future research and practical applications in blockchain-based Web3.0 security.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
M. K. Ghosh, Swapnil Srivastava, Apoorva Upadhyaya, Raju Halder · 5 authors
Phishing scams on Ethereum have expanded with the surge of the platform, posing substantial challenges due to the sheer similarity in user behaviours and sparse temporal instances. Current methods often fail to tackle these concerns and overlook the temporal sequence of transactions, resulting in suboptimal performance. In this paper, we aim to address these gaps by focusing on the alignment of two aspects: (1) User-specific local temporal behavior, and (2) Divergences from global activity patterns of the network. Hence, we introduce CATALOG (CApturing joint TemporAl dependencies from LOcal and Global user behaviour), a novel representation learning model that jointly captures the local and global user behviours and their correlations by leveraging a dual cross-attention mechanism paired with a bi-directional Masked Language Modelling (MLM) transformer. Our proposed model simultaneously learns from local behavioral shifts, global market trends, and contextually enriched embeddings, effectively distinguishing phishing from non-phishing users while addressing existing research gaps. Extensive experiments on real-world Ethereum transaction data show that our framework improves phishing detection by 7-8% in the F1-Score along with demonstrating the generalization to Ethereum versions 1.0 and 2.0.
Traditional electronic voting systems face sig-nificant challenges, including susceptibility to tam-pering, lack of transparency, and vulnerabilities in voter authentication.To address these issues, this paper proposes a decentralized e-voting archi-tecture that integrates Aadhaar-based identity val-idation, biometric authentication (fingerprint and facial recognition), and Ethereum blockchain tech-nology for secure and immutable vote recording [1].The system leverages multi-factor authentica-tion to ensure only eligible voters can participate, while blockchain's distributed ledger guarantees tamper-proof storage and real-time auditability of votes.Experimental evaluations demonstrate that the proposed framework achieves a throughput of over 10,000 transactions per second with 99.99% uptime, making it scalable for large-scale elections.By eliminating centralized points of failure and enabling remote voting, this approach signif-icantly enhances electoral integrity, accessibility, and public trust.Future work will explore inte-gration with postquantum cryptography to further strengthen long-term security.
Open access
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
The electronic voting system guarantees the impar-tial, confidential and secure execution of the voting process. However, most existing electronic voting schemes are tailored to specific voting rules and employ particular encryption tools to ensure swift elections under predefined conditions. This often limits their adaptability to accommodate diverse voting modes. Addressing these challenges, the SecureVote scheme proposed in this article incorporates score-based voting rules, supports five different voting rules, thereby catering to a wide range of real-world electronic voting scenarios. The Secure Vote can ensure the privacy and anonymity of the scheme through homomorphic encryption and privacy set intersection technology, and at the same time use non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs to ensure the verifiability of voting, and is better than the scheme with a central trust entity in terms of communication, efficiency and rationality. Finally, we illustrate the nature and efficiency of the scheme through safety proofs and experiments.
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Cryptography and Data Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Abstract: This paper describes a project-specific electronic voting (e-voting) system that integrates blockchain technology with face recognition for robust voter authentication. The goal is to design a decentralized platform in which every vote is recorded immutably on an Ethereum-based blockchain, while face recognition ensures that only a uniquely verified individual can cast a ballot. We detail the system architecture, methodology, and implementation steps, and we compare our approach to other blockchain-based e-voting systems worldwide, including Voatz, Follow My Vote, Zug e-Voting, and Moscow Blockchain Voting. Finally, we reference the open-source repository on which our project is based, demonstrating its real-world applicability and transparency.
This study explores the application of Quadratic Voting (QV) and its generalization to improve decentralization and effectiveness in blockchain governance systems. The conducted research identified three main types of quadratic (square root) voting. Two of them pertain to voting with a split stake, and one involves voting without splitting. In split stakes, Type 1 QV applies the square root to the total stake before distributing it among preferences, while Type 2 QV distributes the stake first and then applies the square root. In unsplit stakes (Type 3 QV), the square root of the total stake is allocated entirely to each preference. The presented formal proofs confirm that Types 2 and 3 QV, along with generalized models, enhance decentralization as measured by the Gini and Nakamoto coefficients. A pivotal discovery is the existence of a threshold stakeholder whose relative voting ratio increases under QV compared to linear voting, while smaller stakeholders also gain influence. The generalized QV model allows flexible adjustment of this threshold, enabling tailored decentralization levels. Maintaining fairness, QV ensures that stakeholders with higher stakes retain a proportionally greater voting ratio while redistributing influence to prevent excessive concentration. It is shown that to preserve fairness and robustness, QV must be implemented alongside privacy-preserving cryptographic voting protocols, as voters casting their ballots last could otherwise manipulate outcomes. The generalized QV model, proposed in this paper, enables algorithmic parametrization to achieve desired levels of decentralization for specific use cases. This flexibility makes it applicable across diverse domains, including user interaction with cryptocurrency platforms, facilitating community events and educational initiatives, and supporting charitable activities through decentralized decision-making.
Francesco Zola, Jon Ander Medina, A. Venturi, Raúl Orduna-Urrutia
Cryptocurrency users increasingly rely on obfuscation techniques such as mixers, swappers, and decentralised or no-KYC exchanges to protect their anonymity. However, at the same time, these services are exploited by criminals to conceal and launder illicit funds. Among obfuscation services, mixers remain one of the most challenging entities to tackle. This is because their owners are often unwilling to cooperate with Law Enforcement Agencies, and technically, they operate as 'black boxes'. To better understand their functionalities, this paper proposes an approach to analyse the operations of mixers by examining their address-transaction graphs and identifying topological similarities to uncover common patterns that can define the mixer's modus operandi. The approach utilises community detection algorithms to extract dense topological structures and clustering algorithms to group similar communities. The analysis is further enriched by incorporating data from external sources related to known Exchanges, in order to understand their role in mixer operations. The approach is applied to dissect the Blender.io mixer activities within the Bitcoin blockchain, revealing: i) consistent structural patterns across address-transaction graphs; ii) that Exchanges play a key role, following a well-established pattern, which raises several concerns about their AML/KYC policies. This paper represents an initial step toward dissecting and understanding the complex nature of mixer operations in cryptocurrency networks and extracting their modus operandi.
Blockchain-based digital voting systems have emerged as a promising solution to enhance the security, transparency, and accessibility of voting processes. By leveraging distributed ledger technology, these systems aim to mitigate various challenges associated with traditional voting methods, such as fraud, manipulation, and logistical complexities. However, the adoption of blockchain in voting introduces both security and usability considerations that must be carefully evaluated. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of blockchain-based digital voting systems, focusing on their security and usability aspects. We examine the underlying cryptographic mechanisms, consensus protocols, and smart contract implementations to assess their resilience against potential attacks and vulnerabilities. Additionally, we investigate the user experience, accessibility, and scalability of these systems to evaluate their usability in real-world voting scenarios. Through this analysis, we aim to provide insights into the strengths, limitations, and trade-offs associated with blockchain-based digital voting systems, facilitating informed decision-making and further research in the field of secure and user-friendly electronic voting technologies.
The integrity, transparency, and security of voting systems are crucial to maintaining the democratic process. Traditional electronic voting systems have faced several challenges, including vulnerabilities to hacking, fraud, and tampering. Blockchain technology, known for its decentralized and immutable nature, has emerged as a potential solution to address these issues. This paper explores the application of blockchain-based solutions in creating secure and transparent voting systems. By leveraging the distributed ledger technology of blockchain, the proposed systems ensure data integrity, confidentiality, and voter authentication while enabling real-time auditing. Blockchain-based voting systems offer several advantages, including resistance to vote tampering, the prevention of double voting, and enhanced accessibility for remote and disabled voters. Moreover, the use of cryptographic techniques and smart contracts further enhances security and transparency, allowing for verifiable, auditable, and tamper-proof elections. This review highlights existing research and prototypes, discusses the challenges of implementing such systems, and provides future directions for the development of blockchain-enabled electoral solutions.
This chapter provides the discourse on the blockchain based E-Voting System to maintain fairness, transparency, and accessibility to overcome the challenges of the fraud, manipulation, and logistical inefficiencies. There is always lack of trust among stakeholders in the democratic electoral process. This chapter investigates the technical solution to build such a blockchain based system and also looks into the further challenges in the implementation in the country where there are more than 143 cores of population, and 96.8 core voters in the diverse regions, and languages. It also compares the existing voting system available all over the world, and how the new system will be inclusive and accessible to all stakeholders. The chapter also includes the sample biased code in C++ programming. The smart contract in the Solidity programming is written for the E-Voting System for the immutable, distributed, decentralized storage of the voting data using the cryptographic hashing mechanism in the Ethereum platform.
Integrity and transparency in electoral procedures are essential for the actual functioning of democratic countries. The present voting systems often face numerous issues such as vote rigging, counterfeit ballots, lack of transparency, and inefficiencies. Blockchain-enabled voting systems are promising, but they face challenges in maintaining public trust due to technical concerns, such as transparency, security, privacy, and scalability. The architecture of a Hyperledger-based framework is proposed to design and construct a robust and secure prototype for a blockchain-enabled voting system. Effective algorithms for key electoral processes such as identity management for voter authentication, vote casting, vote counting and vote tallying, using multi-signature validation are deployed. Contemporary cryptographic techniques, such as zero-knowledge proofs, homographic encryption, and digital signatures, ensure that votes are encrypted and anonymized, protecting voter privacy and facilitating a verifiable election process. Through an exploratory work, the recommended prototype using Hyperledger Fabric is compared with conventional electoral systems based on key parameters. This study demonstrates that a blockchain-based election system is able to maintain the integrity and efficiency of state-of-the-art technology by recommending a robust and secure prototype for conducting transparent and verifiable elections.
Urooj Waheed, Sadiq Ali Khan, Muhammad I. Masud, Huma Jamshed · 6 authors
The adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) in smart household energy systems offers new opportunities for efficiency and automation, while also posing substantial security challenges. These systems utilize diverse standards and protocols to autonomously access, collect, and share energy-related data over distributed networks. However, this interconnectivity increases their vulnerability to cyber threats, making the system vulnerable to cyber threats. The literature reveals numerous cases of cyberattacks on IoT-based energy infrastructures, primarily involving unauthorized access, data breaches, and device exploitation. Therefore, designing a robust ecosystem with secure and efficient access control (AC), while safeguarding user functionality and privacy, is essential. This paper proposes a dynamic attribute-based access control (ABAC) model that leverages a hybrid blockchain architecture to enhance security and trust in smart household energy systems. The proposed architecture integrates Hyperledger Fabric for managing user, resource, and device attributes using smart contracts, while Hyperledger Besu enforces decentralized access policies. Additionally, a trust recalibration mechanism dynamically adjusts access permissions based on behavioral analysis, mitigating unauthorized access risks and improving energy system adaptability. Experimental results demonstrate the model’s effectiveness in securing IoT smart home energy, while ensuring seamless device onboarding and efficient access control.