Blockchain Papers

Akash Suresh Patil, Rafik Hamza, Hongyang Yan, Alzubair Hassan · 5 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Chris Buckland, Patrick McCorry

No abstract is available for this record.

Kai Hendrik Wöhnert, Sven-Jannik Wöhnert, Tobias Thiel, Rüdiger Weißbach · 5 authors

Production systems equipped with industrial internet-of-things devices are on the rise allowing smart manufacturing within the trend of industry 4.0 by implementing decentralized decision making. The interconnected devices allow for high transparency in systems by tracking environmental data and actions performed by the actors of the systems. However, they are an easy target for attackers to tamper the authenticity, accountability, and integrity of systems. Therefore, trusted data within systems is required. The trust bases on well-behavior over a period of time of a dedicated entity. Therefore, entities have to be identified to track their behavior. Here, a system of verifiable distributed identities is presented and verified by a simulation. Using a newly introduced zero-knowledge-proof with only two packages exchanged a secure replacement of parts of a product such as a production machine can be achieved without relying on a central authority during the product’s utilization phase.

Ferdınando Chıacchıo, Lucio Compagno, Diego D’Urso, Luca Velardita · 5 authors

With the growth of a global market, new regulations aiming at preventing the fraud of counterfeiting drugs have been released all over the world. In the pharma industry, an innovative technology named serialization is becoming more and more popular as it allows to implement a packaging process based on a hierarchical aggregation. This guarantees that each box entering in the distribution network is marked with a unique identifier for an easy traceability by a central regulatory in charge to follow the life cycle of the product until given to the final patient. In this scenario, the blockchain might offer a breakthrough proposing a decentralized and immutable traceability mechanism able to increase the security of the data and to reduce the success of a fraud attempt. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this technology, in this paper, a DAPP based on the Ethereum blockchain has been coded and tested as prototype in a pharma industry.

Dragos Ilie, William J. Knottenbelt, Iain Stewart

No abstract is available for this record.

Bozhi Wang, Qin Wang, Shiping Chen, Yang Xiang

The Tangle-based structure becomes one of the most promising solutions when designing DAG-based blockchain systems. The approach improves the scalability by directly confirming multiple transactions in parallel instead of single blocks in linear. However, the performance gain may bring potential security risks. In this paper, we construct three types of attacks with comprehensive evaluations, namely parasite attack (PS), double spending attack (DS), and hybrid attack (HB). To achieve that, we deconstruct the Tangle-based projects (e.g. IOTA) and abstract the main components to rebuild a simple but flexible network for the simulation. Then, we informally define three smallest actions to build up the attack strategies layer by layer. Based on that, we provide analyses to evaluate different types of attacks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to provide a comprehensive security analysis of Tangle-based blockchains.

Lijun Xiao, Weihong Huang, Yong Xie, Weidong Xiao · 5 authors

Current Intellectual Property (IP) copyright protection technologies have low efficiency of authority management, traceability, and scalability. In this work, a blockchain-based IP copyright protection algorithm is proposed to address these issues by establishing a mathematical model of quadratic matrix transformation for IP circuit trading. This algorithm proposes the design of a distributed random embedding mechanism and position mapping function that, when IP trading occurs in blockchain, the traceable mapping function can trace the copyright information in IP trading with the mapping factor. Besides, this work analyzes the credibility, transparency, overhead, and complexity. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can resist replaying attacks, yet the copyright information can be rapidly retrieved after suffered from attacks. Still, the proposed algorithm has higher security, stability, and traceability.

Yue Zhang, Keke Gai, Meikang Qiu, Kai Ding

No abstract is available for this record.

Pavel V. Sukharev

Mining task is remarkable by the high amount of resources, such as electrical power, which is needed for its execution. In order to reduce the amount of resources consumed, while maintaining high mining performance, the term of mining efficiency was introduced. This term considering both mining performance and consumed electrical power.In this paper we consider mining hardware overclocking in order to maximize mining efficiency. Overclocking methods are considered, such as increasing memory clock rate, decreasing core clock rate, decreasing hardware voltage. A complex technique is created that allows to apply the considered approaches in order to achieve maximum mining efficiency for a hardware system being overclocked.

Javier Arcenegui, Rosario Arjona, Iluminada Baturone

No abstract is available for this record.

David Heath, Vladimir Kolesnikov

Zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs (ZKP) have received wide attention, focusing on non-interactivity, short proof size, and fast verification time. We focus on the fastest total proof time, in particular for large Boolean circuits. Under this metric, Garbled Circuit (GC)-based ZKP (Jawurek et al., [JKO], CCS 2013) remained the state-of-the-art technique due to the low-constant linear scaling of computing the garbling.

Tolga Yalçın, Elif Bilge Kavun

Blockchain technology has gained immense popularity in the recent years due to its decentralized computing architecture. While it originally emerged as a technology for (crypto)currencies, it has since found many different application areas including (but not limited to) payments, money transfers, smart contracts, supply-chain management, networking, IoT, etc. Initially, it was only Bitcoin, the de facto standard for cryptocurrencies, but then it was followed by several (in fact hundreds of) others. Each new cryptocurrency had or claimed to have certain advantages over Bitcoin, such as transaction speed and cost. However, they all relied on the original idea of distributed ledger where each block has maintained a complete history of each transaction in the network. Blockchain technology has more recently been challenged by two new technologies called Tangle and Hashgraph, which are “directed acyclic graphs”, i.e. in layman's terms blockchains without blocks and chains. IOTA network is the original Tangle technology, which relies on ternary arithmetic architecture and uses ternary hash function “Troika”. It works on GF(3) and its design follows the sponge construction. Two of the main claims of IOTA are scalability and micro-transitions, both of which are likely to utilize compact hardware platforms in practical implementations. In this paper, an almost-zero logic compact and yet adequately fast hardware architectures of Troika hash function targeting reconfigurable devices are presented. The proposed architectures mainly depend on the utilization of BRAMs on FPGAs. Three different RAM-based hardware implementations have been realized on Xilinx Artix-7xc7a12tcpg238-3 device; all using only a single BRAM tile with minimal number of LUTs and FFs. The proposed architectures can easily be implemented on different reconfigurable devices with similar efficiency. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported hardware implementation of Troika hash function on reconfigurable devices which is also compact and fast.

Hala Hamadeh, Akhilesh Tyagi

Data provenance to maintain data integrity and authenticity is a significant challenge in the Internet of Things (IoT) environments. Additionally, if the provenance metadata itself can be communicated in a privacy-preserving manner, it expands the usage of IoT systems to human societal domains where privacy is of paramount importance. In this paper, we present a scheme to combine data provenance and privacy-preserving solutions. Our scheme merges Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) technology with non-interactive zero-knowledge proof to provide trustworthy and dependable IoT systems. In this context, the IoT device can anonymously send data to the corresponding server associated with the proof of ownership. First, we propose a privacy-preserving data provenance protocol. This protocol was synthesized with Altera Quartus. It was implemented on an Altera Cyclone IV FPGA to demonstrate its practicality and feasibility. Most of the protocol steps take time of the order of 40u sec establishing its practicality.

Zhenyu Guan, Hao Liu, Yuyao Qin

The Internet of things (IoT), as an extension of the Internet, has become a trend of network development nowadays. In order to protect the integrity and authenticity of the information in the IoT, an identity authentication protocol applied to the networked devices is designed in this paper, using the physical unclonable function (PUF) to extract the uniqueness and tamper resistance of the randomness in the manufacturing process of the physical device. We propose the protocol including the database, accessed devices, access devices and users in the specific network environment. Relying on the unique identification information generated by the PUF embedded in devices and passwords set by users, devices and users identities could be verified through zero-knowledge proofs. The performance analysis and the experiment at the end of this work show that our protocol provides users with a strong security guarantee for IoT devices.

Yongjie Ye, Jingjing Zhang, Weigang Wu, Xiapu Luo · 5 authors

The payment channel, which allows two parties to perform micropayments without involving the blockchain, has become a promising proposal to improve the scalability of decentralized ledgers such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Payment channels have been extended to the payment network, through which users can utilize existing channels as intermediary links to route coins to others. However, routing payments through multiple channels bears nontrivial overheads. It requires every intermediary channel to lock a portion of its available capacity until the payment is settled. This may lead to deadlock in a concurrent situation. The intermediary nodes in a payment path may also charge fees for routing a payment. The longer the routing path, the more serious the above problems. In this paper, we design and develop a novel off-chain system to shorten the routing path for the payment network. In particular, we propose the channel hub, which is an extension of the payment hub, to allows transferring coins directly from one payment channel to another within the same hub. That is, the channel hub can be viewed as a shortcut device for the underlying payment network. We design a new protocol named Boros to perform secure off-chain cross-channel transfers through the channel hub. We not only present the security definition of the Boros protocol formally but also prove its security using the UC-framework. To demonstrate the feasibility of the Boros protocol, we develop a proof-of-concept prototype running on the Ethereum. Our evaluation shows that our system can effectively shorten the off-chain routing path.

Krishnendu Guha, Debasri Saha, Amlan Chakrabarti

A key challenge of the embedded era is to ensure trust in reuse of intellectual properties (IPs), which facilitates reduction of design cost and meeting of stringent marketing deadlines. Determining source of the IPs or their authenticity is a key metric to facilitate safe reuse of IPs. Though physical unclonable functions solves this problem for application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) IPs, authentication strategies for reconfigurable IPs (RIPs) or IPs of reconfigurable hardware platforms like field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are still in their infancy. Existing authentication techniques for RIPs that relies on verification of proof of authentication (PoA) mark embedded in the RIP by the RIP producers, leak useful clues about the PoA mark. This results in replication and implantation of the PoA mark in fake RIPs. This not only causes loss to authorized second hand RIP users, but also poses risk to the reputation of the RIP producers. We propose a zero knowledge authentication strategy for safe reusing of RIPs. The PoA of an RIP producer is kept secret and verification is carried out based on traversal times from the initial point to several intermediate points of the embedded PoA when the RIPs configure an FPGA. Such delays are user specific and cannot be replicated as these depend on intrinsic properties of the base semiconductor material of the FPGA, which is unique and never same as that of another FPGA. Experimental results validate our proposed mechanism. High strength even for low overhead ISCAS benchmarks, considered as PoA for experimentation depict the prospects of our proposed methodology.

İqra Mustafa, Adeel Anjum, Kouahla Zineddine

The smart meters become an important node for managing information about electric power system so, smart-meter drags cyber security attention in this regard.  In this paper, the protocol for smart meters named as “privacy preserving billing” is used which provides authentication, non-repudiation and integrity by digital signature scheme and zero-knowledge proof. This protocol ensures secrecy and reliability of end to end communication. However, vulnerability lies in integrated circuits of smart meters that can leak sensitive information and side channel attacks (SCA), derive this information from integrated circuits(IC) while it's operating. The most well-known SCA's against smart-meters are electromagnetic radiations, timing and power analysis attacks. Due to side channel attacks integrated circuit’s physical and electrical effects broadcast information related to secret key and have emerged as a major vulnerability to security applications. SCA does not temper IC security as their non-invasiveness observes device under normal conditions. Hence, our ultimate goal is to make circuit of smart-meter immune against side channel attacks, specifically differential power analysis (DPA) attack is main focus, as it is more aggressive than other SCA’s. For this reason, we present basis for SCA resistance and concept of CMOS library. Secondly, the other concept, we introduces is CMOS-based digital isolation that provides immunity to electrical noise and external fields compared to optocouplers for smart-meters.

Leonardo Aniello, Basel Halak, Peter R. Chai, Riddhi Dhall · 6 authors

The complexity of today's supply chain, organised in several tiers and\nincluding many companies located in different countries, makes it challenging\nto assess the history and integrity of procured physical parts, and to make\norganisations really accountable for their conduct. This enables malicious\npractices like counterfeiting and insertion of back doors, which are extremely\ndangerous, especially in supply chains of physical parts for industrial control\nsystems used in critical infrastructures, where a country and human lives can\nbe put at risk. This paper aims at mitigating these issues by proposing an\napproach where procured parts are uniquely identified and tracked along the\nchain, across multiple sites, to detect tampering. Our solution is based on\nconsortium blockchain and smart contract technologies, hence it is\ndecentralised, highly available and provides strong guarantees on the integrity\nof stored data and executed business logic. The unique identification of parts\nalong the chain is implemented by using physically unclonable functions (PUFs)\nas tamper-resistant IDs. We first define the threat model of an adversary\ninterested in tampering with physical products along the supply chain, then\nprovide the design of the tracking system that implements the proposed\nanti-counterfeiting approach. We present a security analysis of the tracking\nsystem against the designated threat model and a prototype evaluation to show\nits technical feasibility and assess its effectiveness in counterfeit\nmitigation. Finally, we discuss several key practical aspects concerning our\nsolution ad its integration with real supply chains.\n

Ryan Shah, Michael McIntee, Shishir Nagaraja, Sahil Bhandary · 6 authors

Secure sensor calibration constitutes a foundational step that underpins operational safety in the Industrial Internet of Things. While much attention has been given to IoT security such as the use of TLS to secure sensed data, little thought has been given to securing the calibration infrastructure itself. Currently traceability is achieved via manual verification using paper-based datasheets which is both time consuming and insecure. For instance, when the calibration status of parent devices is revoked as mistakes or mischance is detected, calibrated devices are not updated until the next calibration cycle, leaving much of the calibration parameters invalid. Aside from error, any party within the calibration infrastructure can maliciously introduce errors since the current paper based system lacks authentication as well as non-repudiation. In this paper, we propose a novel resilient architecture for calibration infrastructure, where the calibration status of sensor elements can be verified on-the-fly to the root of trust preserving the properties of authentication and non-repudiation. We propose an implementation based on smart contracts on the Ethereum network. Our evaluation shows that Ethereum is likely to address the protection requirements of traceable measurements.

Pinchen Cui, Ujjwal Guin

The success and widespread use of Internet of Things (IoT) bring remarkable contributions and economic benefits in various fields. However, the increasing number of devices also raises security concerns. The prevalence of Botnet of Things (BoT) has been observed and it has been recently reported that the launched attacks affect multiple domains and have caused unacceptable losses. As majority of IoT devices are manufactured off-shore, ensuring their identity becomes one of the major challenges. Cloned devices, with backdoors for malicious purposes, can provide an undue advantage of the adversary to compromise a system even though proper security measures are in place. In this paper, we propose a novel blockchain-based framework to provide traceability of hardware. A unique identity for every IoT device is ensured using a physically unclonable function (PUF). The blockchain provides the verification of these devices by comparing these unique IDs. HyperLedger is selected to implement the blockchain-based framework, and its performance is being evaluated and analyzed.

Akshay Kulkarni, Noor Ahmad Hazari, Mohammed Niamat

In trying to lower the costs of integrated circuit (IC) fabrication, the IC supply chain is becoming global. However, if the foundry or the supply chain, to which the fabrication process is outsourced, is not reliable or trustworthy, it may result in the quality of ICs being compromised. There have been well documented instances of counterfeit chips, and chips secretly implanted with Trojans, creeping into the supply chain. With the above background in mind, we propose to strengthen the supply chain process by attempting to use a very secure technique which has been widely used in many other fields, namely, the blockchain technology. Blockchain, first introduced for the security and mining of bitcoins, is one of the most trusted security techniques in today's world. In this paper, we propose a blockchain technology enabled `smart contract' approach for ensuring the security and trust of these ICs by tracking down the stage of alteration at which the chip may have been compromised in the IC supply chain.

Md Nazmul Islam, Sandip Kundu

The cost to develop a new integrated circuit (IC), its fabrication, debug and volume production has been escalating with scaling of transistor feature size. According to an IBS report, the cost of developing a System on Chip (SoC) at 14nm may be as high as $300 million [1]. The economics of semiconductor IC development favors high volume production, while high volume cannot be attained without developing an IC that serves a large number of applications. Some of these applications are in low margin Internet of Things (IoT) devices, where an SoC cannot command a high price. Consequently, without the ability to customize IC features after production, the price of an IC will be determined by its lowest priced application. This motivates the manufacturers to develop capabilities for post-production IC customization. The commodity microprocessor business offers an example of post-production customization, where a manufacturer can tailor cache size, number of cores and frequency of operation for a target market segment after a chip has been manufactured. Today, such customization is limited to one-time programming (OTP) for predetermined IC bins. In this paper, we explore how an IC can be programmed repeatedly and securely using a blockchain-based smart contract. This will enable users to upgrade IC features, or rent upgraded IC features for a fixed period after it has been purchased. The availability of such a system could, for example, allow a buyer to upgrade her processor from i3 to i5 after it has been purchased to scale to her computing needs in exchange of a payment made to the manufacturer. IC feature configuration is implemented by firmware updates from the manufacturer. The smart contract takes the feature configuration request from the IC as input and outputs the source of corresponding firmware. To support remote and authorized update by manufacturer, we propose an on-die hardware module that communicates with the smart contract and enforces its functionalities. Availability of this module also facilitates secure firmware update. The blockchain makes the update protocol secure and prevents users from obtaining unauthorized update.

Akhil Dhanesh Goel, Akshay Agarwal, Mayank Vatsa, Richa Singh · 5 authors

Several computer vision applications such as object detection and face recognition have started to completely rely on deep learning based architectures. These architectures, when paired with appropriate loss functions and optimizers, produce state-of-the-art results in a myriad of problems. On the other hand, with the advent of "blockchain", the cybersecurity industry has developed a new sense of trust which was earlier missing from both the technical and commercial perspectives. Employment of cryptographic hash as well as symmetric/asymmetric encryption and decryption algorithms ensure security without any human intervention (i.e., centralized authority). In this research, we present the synergy between the best of both these worlds. We first propose a model which uses the learned parameters of a typical deep neural network and is secured from external adversaries by cryptography and blockchain technology. As the second contribution of the proposed research, a new parameter tampering attack is proposed to properly justify the role of blockchain in machine learning.

Miguel A. Prada-Delgado, Iluminada Baturone, Gero Dittmann, Jens Jelitto · 5 authors

No abstract is available for this record.