In order to ensure the confidentiality of digital contents, improve the fairness of digital copyright transactions, and reduce the time and management overhead of digital copyright owners, we proposed a blockchain-based digital rights management scheme. First, we designed a new multiauthority ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (MA-CPABE) scheme and showed that the new MA-CPABE has the indistinguishability of plaintext under adaptively chosen plaintext attack (IND-CPA) security and good performance. By combining the MA-CPABE and proxy re-encryption, the rights owner can flexibly sell the copyright to different users with once encryption by an agent who cannot access any information related to digital content when changing the ciphertext access policy as required. By using the smart contract of Ethereum, a fair trade of the decryption keys between the rights owner and rights requester is implemented. In order to further improve fairness, another blockchain is used as a ledge to store information related to digital rights, which greatly reduces the storage overhead in public blockchain. Security analysis shows that our scheme can provide IND-CPA security, resist collusion attacks, and protect the user’s privacy. Performance analysis shows that our scheme can provide a wealth of features to meet the various needs of users. The simulation results show that our scheme is very efficient compared to other schemes.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a basic requirement in the Internet era. In order to solve the disadvantages caused by centralization in traditional DRM, many decentralized DRM (DDRM) structure are proposed, and they have achieved decentralization in copyright registration, copyright trading, etc. However, the distribution of content keys is their bottleneck. Different from public copyright and transaction information, content key which is used for digital content decryption cannot be directly disclosed to decentralized nodes. The existing DDRM relies on specific nodes or an ideal trust environment to issue encrypted content keys, which makes the system unable to be completely decentralized. In this paper, we proposed a decentralized key distribution system, and it can be compatible with the existing DDRM structure. We use zero-knowledge proof technology to prove to others the correctness of the encrypted content key without revealing it. We use blockchain technology to achieve decentralized key distribution, without relying on any trusted center. Our system allows consumers and agents to apply for and distribute content keys without trusting each other. Malicious users cannot commit fraud against others, and damaged nodes will not affect the stability and reliability of the system.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
During the past few years, blockchain technologies have attracted substantial attention from researchers, engineers, and enterprises. These technologies provide decentralized platforms to validate different types of transactions without relying on a central authority. Since the advent of the popular Bitcoin network [2], [3], various types of protocols, among them DAG-based distributed ledgers, have been offered to improve the Bitcoin networks shortcomings in the areas of scalability, throughput, and security. Researchers have also been motivated to study blockchain-based applications across multiple domains with novel designs and capabilities [4]. However, when used in such capacities, failures of blockchain networks (BNs) imply catastrophes that extend beyond individuals, organizations, and countries [5]. In light of such mission criticality, the vision of turning BNs into decentralized transaction processing systems that can sustainably and securely compete with the centralized state of the art poses substantial methodological challenges for researchers [5]. Before considered for wide adoption, BN protocols and technologies must be assessed with different analytical and empirical methodologies. In this research, a novel DAG-based distributed ledger, the Tangle, has been studied and several of its features have been investigated through simulation analysis. Contributions of this research are two-fold. First, a Tangle simulator has been designed and implemented based on model-oriented design and development principles. Second, three important characteristics of Tangle networks including scalability, throughput, and their security against double-spending attacks have been investigated.
Innovation in Digital Healthcare Systems
Internet of Things and Social Network Interactions
Currently, the P2P method is that its software runs on a P2P hardware environment. However, the software is not a P2P one. It is difficult to match the scenarios in which the users’ requirements change often. Meanwhile, if the software is out of service, all participants are affected. Thus, in this paper, we propose the fully decentralized application model, in which a P2P software runs in a P2P hardware environment. It is based on the blockchain, as a blockchain provides a secured P2P hardware environment. We focus on its P2P software (the P2P smart contract). A P2P smart contract is formed by smart contracts from its participants instead of a third party. It allows each participant to specify its requirement in a turning-complete way and the failure of one smart contract does not affect other smart contracts. We first describe the requirement of the P2P smart contract and the dependence among them. Then, we propose different ways to pair associated smart contracts. At last, we verify the proposed P2P smart contract model, and it shows more flexibility and robustness than the centralized software method.
Abstract Closed circuit television (CCTV) is installed on roads or in facilities for the purpose of filming videos to be used for crime prevention or as evidence for accidents in the future, and the number of CCTVs installed annually is increasing sharply. The videos collected by the devices can be submitted as legal evidence for accidents, which could happen in the future, but the damage to their integrity may cause the loss of reliability. Blockchain, which guarantees the integrity of data by sharing data as a distributed network method on these issues, can be applied as an effective means of data forgery. In general, however, video information contains sensitive data within the image, and sharing it externally can cause many problems. Thus, in this paper, by implementing role‐based approach control based on a block chain that guarantees integrity through sharing of data, a mechanism is proposed to share filmed images but prevent indiscriminate access by third parties.
Blockchain is attracting attention as a new solution for problems such as illegal copying, profit distribution, and forgery and falsification in the digital content trading environment, which has become an essential asset in the information age. However, one problem is that it is difficult to propagate digital content to the blockchain network because of a limited capacity to upload to the blockchain. The integrity and transparency of blockchain are also considered as weak points in terms of privacy. In this paper, we propose a new blockchain system, the secret block-based blockchain (SBBC), to address the problems with the blockchain system in the digital content trading environment. SBBC is composed of off-chain and on-chain network components. Off-chain is the part that allows trading digital content through the authentication phase. The digital content that is traded has a digital fingerprint inserted, so if an illegal leak occurs, the destination can be tracked. In addition, the content is encrypted and traded, and only the rightful user can use the digital content, thus ensuring income for the legitimate content author. Next, the on-chain network is licensed to use digital content, and a verification process using a consensus algorithm is performed. The licensed consumer creates a secret block of their transaction and records it only on their ledger. In a private part, secret block creation ensures privacy and solves the network overload that can occur when uploading digital content to the blockchain. Finally, through the verification and agreement of all blockchain participants, a public block is created and recorded in the ledger to finalize the transaction. Consequently, we propose the SBBC system suitable for digital content trading environments and a safe and reliable system through a consensus algorithm in such environments.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Oyinomomo-emi Emmanuel Akpe, Denis Kisina, Samuel Owoade, Abel Chukwuemeke Uzoka · 6 authors
The increasing complexity of digital platforms, driven by cloud-native architectures, distributed applications, and user-centric services, necessitates robust, scalable, and secure identity management frameworks. This paper explores recent advances in federated authentication and identity management, emphasizing their role in enabling seamless and secure access across interconnected digital ecosystems. Beginning with a foundational overview of identity management’s evolution—from traditional siloed systems to federated and decentralized models—the study outlines key technologies such as SAML, OAuth, OpenID Connect, and emerging paradigms like decentralized identity and blockchain-based verification. It further investigates the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning for adaptive authentication, anomaly detection, and risk-based decision-making, alongside privacy-enhancing technologies ensuring compliance with data protection regulations such as GDPR. Through the examination of scalability, interoperability, and security challenges, the paper identifies best practices and architectural strategies critical for real-world implementations. The discussion culminates in practical implications for industry adoption across sectors such as healthcare, finance, and e-commerce, and highlights future research directions including the development of standardized identity frameworks, AI integration, and decentralized identity systems in multi-cloud and edge computing environments. This study offers a comprehensive synthesis of current trends and technologies that are shaping the next generation of identity management in scalable digital platforms.
The existing self-sovereign identity management schemes have some problems, such as weak availability and security risks. To solve these problems, we proposed a cross-domain self-sovereign identity management scheme using smart contracts. This scheme takes into account the entire lifecycle of identity, especially including the cross-domain use and recovery. To preserve the privacy data of users on the blockchain, we proposed a data storage method of anchoring on blockchain. Finally, we implemented this scheme using the Solidity programming language for smart contract. This scheme has been experimentally verified to be capable of maintaining the expenditure of resources under control and having good usability. Compared with other self-sovereign identity management schemes, this scheme has better performance in terms of controllability, security and portability.
Juan Cano-Benito, Andrea Cimmino, Raúl García‐Castro
Blockchain has become a pervasive technology in a wide number of sectors like industry, research, and academy. With the emergence of blockchain, new solutions with this technology to existing problems were devised, leading to the introduction of smart contracts. Smart contracts are similar to traditional contracts with the benefits provided by blockchain, such as immutability, privacy, and decentralisation. These contracts are usually defined based on a specific domain, and this domain knowledge can be represented through an ontology. Researches have explored the benefits of using domain ontologies with smart contracts, such as code generation, discovering other contracts in the network, or interaction with other contracts. Notwithstanding, the representation of smart contract languages themselves has not been studied. In this paper, we present an ontology for a well-known smart contract language, Solidity, defining all entities needed to cover the whole language and aligning it to other standardised ontologies such as EthOn, in a way to improve the knowledge of the ontology developed. Furthermore, the ontology has also been validated with already deployed contracts in the Ethereum blockchain. Thus, Solidity will be able to benefit from the advantages provided by ontologies, such as interoperability and the use of semantic web technologies.
현대 사회에서는 인터넷 상의 데이터 유출을 보장하면서 데이터 송 수신자들의 증명을 확인시켜 주는 공개키 기반구조(Public Key Infrastructure)를 활용하여, 온라인상에서 안전한 데이터 교환과 신원인증을 위해서 대칭키, 비대칭키 암호화 기반의 디지털 인증서 기술을 제공하고 있다. 하지만 CA(Certificate Authority, 인증기관)의 보안이 취약하다면 CA의 디지털 인증서를 사용하는 모든 사용자들 또한 데이터 유출에 취약해지며, 또한 유출된 정보로 인해 발생할 수 있는 2차적인 피해가 있다. 본 논문은 디지털 인증서 와 키 유출로 인한 피해를 방지하기 위해 자기주권 신원증명 기술을 활용하여 분산 원장 환경인 블록체인을 사용하여 데이터의 무결성을 보장하고 블록체인에 등록된 DID(Decentralized Identifier) Document의 공개키를 사용하여 탈중앙화 구조에서 안전하게 공개키를 교환할 수 있는 보안성을 확보하는 체계를 제안한다.
In this paper, we provide a holistic survey of multimedia content protection applications in which blockchain technology is being used. A taxonomy is developed to classify these applications with reference to the technical aspects of blockchain technology, content protection techniques, namely, encryption, digital rights management, digital watermarking and fingerprinting (or transaction tracking), and performance criteria. The study of the literature reveals that there is currently no complete and systematic taxonomy dedicated to blockchain-based copyright protection applications. Moreover, the number of successfully developed blockchain-based content protection systems is very low. This points towards a research gap. To fill this gap, we propose a taxonomy that integrates technical aspects and application knowledge and can guide the researchers towards the development of blockchain-based multimedia copyright protection systems. Furthermore, the paper discusses some technical challenges and outlines future research directions.
Open access
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Benjamin Mariano, Yanju Chen, Yu Feng, Shuvendu K. Lahiri · 5 authors
This paper aims to shed light on how loops are used in smart contracts. Towards this goal, we study various syntactic and semantic characteristics of loops used in over 20,000 Solidity contracts deployed on the Ethereum blockchain, with the goal of informing future research on program analysis for smart contracts. Based on our findings, we propose a small domain-specific language (DSL) that can be used to summarize common looping patterns in Solidity. To evaluate what percentage of smart contract loops can be expressed in our proposed DSL, we also design and implement a program synthesis toolchain called Solis that can synthesize loop summaries in our DSL. Our evaluation shows that at least 56% of the analyzed loops can be summarized in our DSL, and 81% of these summaries are exactly equivalent to the original loop.
Contents that are uploaded on the centralized video platform are mostly controlled by the platform owner instead of the content creator. On the other hand, decentralized blockchain-based video platforms are trying to decrease ad pressure and removes intermediaries but some content creators upload garbage content to earn free cryptocurrency, generated by the blockchain algorithm which demoralizes other creative content makers. Also, copyright infringement, illegal distribution of protected content is a big issue in mainstream video platforms. Therefore, copyright protection, illegal access control and legitimate video file distribution are needed with proper pay off for the creator's creative content. The paper proposes a composition of robust copyright protection algorithm, a secured encryption method and access control system designed with modified version of IPFS and Ethereum Smart Contract to develop an effective Blockchain-based decentralized video streaming platform.
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
The quick jumps in developing new digital identity technologies have resulted in this trend of developing privacy-preserving solutions in Know Your Customer (KYC) verification systems. This article delves into the evolution of an Advanced Digital Identity Orchestration Engine to enhance privacy protection in the KYC processes. With the rise of concerns surrounding data privacy and security, traditional knowledge of customer systems which are based on centralized database, have faced major challenges including data breaches and unauthorized access. In contrast, the proposed identity orchestration engine draws on the use of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) principles, blockchain technology, and verifiable credentials to offer a decentralized, secure and privacy-preserving solution to identity management problem. This engine allows users to manage their personal identity information, and selectively share their information with entities they trust without losing their privacy. By leveraging decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and public key cryptography, the system is enabled to ensure the sensitive data isn't kept in a central place causing reduction in the odds of unauthorized access. Furthermore, features such as zero knowledge proofs (ZKPs) and selective disclosure provide the option for a granular control on what data is shared to ensure that only the required information is provided to comply with regulation requirements. This article also talks about integrating the orchestration engine with existing frameworks for KYC and explores the scalability, interoperability, and potential for this engine to help increase inclusivity in digital identity management. Through case studies and real-world examples, the paper points out the efficiency in working of this engine in getting better security and privacy and user experience in the process of KYC verification. Ultimately, the solution proposed creates a major step forward to privacy-preserving and user-centric digital Identity systems adapted both globally to regulatory requirements and to increase trust in digital financial services.