Henry Ohiani Ohize, Adeiza James Onumanyi, Buhari Ugbede Umar, Lukman Adewale Ajao · 11 authors
Abstract Electronic voting (e-voting) systems are gaining increasing attention as a means to modernize electoral processes, enhance transparency, and boost voters’ participation. In recent years, significant developments have occurred in the study of e-voting and blockchain technology systems, hence reshaping many electoral systems globally. For example, real-world implementations of blockchain-based e-voting have been explored in various countries, such as Estonia and Switzerland, which demonstrates the potential of blockchain to enhance the security and transparency of elections. Thus, in this paper, we present a survey of the latest trends in the development of e-voting systems, focusing on the integration of blockchain technology as a promising solution to address various concerns in e-voting, including security, transparency, auditability, and voting integrity. This survey is important because existing survey articles do not cover the latest advancements in blockchain technology for e-voting, particularly as it relates to architecture, global trends, and current concerns in the developmental process. Thus, we address this gap by providing an encompassing overview of architectures, developments, concerns, and solutions in e-voting systems based on the use of blockchain technology. Specifically, a concise summary of the information necessary for implementing blockchain-based e-voting solutions is provided. Furthermore, we discuss recent advances in blockchain systems, which aim to enhance scalability and performance in large-scale voting scenarios. We also highlight the fact that the implementation of blockchain-based e-voting systems faces challenges, including cybersecurity risks, resource intensity, and the need for robust infrastructure, which must be addressed to ensure the scalability and reliability of these systems. This survey also points to the ongoing development in the field, highlighting future research directions such as improving the efficiency of blockchain algorithms and integrating advanced cryptographic techniques to further enhance security and trust in e-voting systems. Hence, by analyzing the current state of e-voting systems and blockchain technology, insights have been provided into the opportunities and challenges in the field with opportunities for future research and development efforts aimed at creating more secure, transparent, and inclusive electoral processes.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Internet of Things (IoT) technology is increasingly prevalent across various sectors, including the military and healthcare. IoT devices play a pivotal role in collecting and analyzing crucial data while executing assigned tasks. Given the sensitive nature of this data, access control in IoT is crucial for data protection, and regulating the accessibility of data, applications, and resources. Yet, conventional centralized access control mechanisms are not well-suited to the dynamic IoT environment. The decentralized and distributed nature of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) presents a promising solution due to its high degree of transparency. This paper investigates various DLT-based access control models, presenting their distribution levels based on access control functional points and evaluating their capabilities using a predefined set of criteria. Upon defining a set of criteria for assessing DLT-based access control models within the IoT, it was observed that only two publications can be classified as highly distributed based on functional points. Furthermore, the assessment revealed that no model possesses both a highly distributed architecture and a highly distributed functional point distribution level simultaneously. This highlights the need for further development of distributed, scalable, and flexible access control models that align with the characteristics of the Internet of Things. This may involve integrating additional functional points into the chain and implementing smart contracts.
Valeh Farzaliyev, Calvin Pärn, Heleen Saarse, Jan Willemson
Abstract This paper studies several building blocks needed for electronic voting in order to prepare for the post-quantum era. In particular, we present lattice-based constructions for a generic zero-knowledge (ZK) proof of ballot correctness, a ZK proof of ballot correctness applicable for the homomorphic tallying scenario, and a ZK proof to achieve cast-as-intended verification during the vote casting period. We implement and benchmark our ballot correctness proofs, giving concrete estimations comparing the performance of homomorphic tallying and mix-net based e-voting systems in case of our lattice-based constructions.
Cryptography plays a vital role in ensuring the security and privacy of blockchain networks, as well as Web3 dApps and wallets. This chapter describes some common cryptographic concepts and algorithms relevant to Web3, which include: Hash Functions : Hash functions transform data into fixed-length strings (hashes). In Web3, hashes are used to verify data integrity and create unique identifiers for transactions and blocks. Public and Private Key Pairs : Web3 relies on asymmetric encryption, where each user has a public key (used for encryption) and a corresponding private key (used for decryption). Public keys are openly shared, while private keys must remain confidential. Transactions and data integrity are secured using these key pairs. Symmetric Encryption : Symmetric encryption uses a single shared secret key for both encryption and decryption. While less common in Web3, it&s;s still relevant for certain use cases. Digital Signatures : Digital signatures provide proof of authenticity and integrity. When a user signs a transaction with their private key, others can verify it using the associated public key. Zero-Knowledge Proofs : Zero-Knowledge Proofs are cryptographic protocols that allow one party (the prover) to prove the truth of a statement to another party (the verifier) without revealing any additional information beyond the statement&s;s validity. In other words, ZKPs enable verification without disclosure.
G Ananya, Bindu Madhavi, Monisha Krishna Murthy, N. Guruprasad
In today’s world, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are transforming many industries, but they rely on huge amounts of data leading to privacy issues. A better alternative is Federated learning. Federated Learning involves training the model from multiple sources using the decentralization technique, meaning each device trains the model on its local data thereby reducing the strain on the single server. This is useful in cases where the data is too large to be sent and maintained on a central server or in handling privacy and security concerns. Cybersecurity is a prime domain where vulnerable attacks and breaches can be prevented using this technique. Other domains like finance, healthcare, IoT etc. have transformed the idea of data-driven decisions. This paper gives an insight into the concept of Federated learning and why it is a better choice. It includes the various algorithms that can be implemented in multiple applications depicted through a comparative analysis. The choice of algorithm depends upon its efficiency and the desired cybersecurity application.
The evolution of electronic voting systems (e-voting) reflects a growing need to enhance electoral integrity, security, and efficiency in modern democracies. As traditional voting methods face scrutiny for vulnerabilities and inefficiencies, blockchain technology has emerged as a promising alternative. This paper explores the potential of blockchain-based e-voting systems, analyzing their ability to address key challenges such as vote tampering, privacy concerns, and voter trust. By reviewing current literature and employing a systematic mapping approach, the study categorizes the challenges of e-voting into five key areas: integrity, privacy, coin-based considerations, consensus mechanisms, and general issues. We present a comprehensive framework that outlines the architecture of a blockchain-based voting system, emphasizing the role of smart contracts, decentralized ledgers, and cryptographic security in creating a transparent, secure, and efficient electoral process. While blockchain technology offers significant improvements, the paper acknowledges existing hurdles related to scalability, transaction speed, and voter trust, calling for further research and pilot implementations to address these issues. This analysis contributes to the growing discourse on how blockchain can transform future voting systems and strengthen democratic processes worldwide.
In crowd-sourced data aggregation over the Internet, participants share their data points with curators. However, a lack of strong privacy guarantees may discourage participation, which motivates the need for privacy-preserving aggregation protocols. Moreover, existing solutions remain limited with respect to public auditing without revealing the participants’ data. In realistic applications, however, there is an increasing need for public verifiability (i.e., verifying the protocol correctness) while preserving the privacy of the participants’ inputs, since the participants do not always trust the data curators. At the same time, while publicly distributed ledgers may provide public auditing, these schemes are not designed to protect sensitive information. In this work, we introduce two protocols, dubbed Masquerade and zk-Masquerade, for computing private statistics, such as sum, average, and histograms, without revealing anything about participants’ data. We propose a tailored multiplicative commitment scheme to ensure the integrity of data aggregations and publish all the participants’ commitments on a ledger to provide public verifiability. zk-Masquerade detects malicious participants who attempt to poison the aggregation results by adopting two zero-knowledge proof protocols that ensure the validity of shared data points before being aggregated and enable a broad range of numerical and categorical studies. In our experiments, we use homomorphic ciphertexts and commitments for a variable number of participants and evaluate the runtime and the communication cost of our protocols.
This paper is proposing a decentralized e-voting system based on the blockchain technology and facial recognition to enhance election security and transparency. The proposed methodology is through the creation of an Ethereum-based blockchain for vote recording and smart contracts for tamper-proof transactions. It ensures voter authenticity through facial recognition, which reduces all fraudulent risks. To test this system, it must be tested in simulated environments to validate that such a system is robust and scalable and prevents unauthorized access and even possible vote tampering. Results indicate that the system guarantees transparency, security, and real-time verification when used.Therefore, it is the best option for institutional or national elections. The current research thus offers a novel alternative to traditional voting procedures, which thus questions critical problems such as vote rigging and general mistrust in the electoral process.
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
A. A. Gerasyov, I. N. Efremova, I. S. Arhipova, R. N. Kamalov
The purpose of research. The actual problem in voting systems is not the prevention of fraud and the failure to ensure the integrity of elections. Therefore, the task of building a system of safe and transparent voting is urgent. The purpose of the research is design and develop an information and computing system based on smart contacts for online voting. Methods. The presented system has the form of a decentralized system that can overcome a number of limitations, such as the likelihood of human error, falsification of voting results and problems with accessibility, using blockchain technology, which provides protection against unauthorized access and transparent record keeping. The use of smart contract technology also ensures that the voting process will be automated, transparent and secure. Thanks to the ability to execute self-executing contracts based on predefined rules, smart contracts can eliminate the need for intermediaries, reduce the likelihood of errors and ensure a high degree of accountability. Results. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the developed system, testing was carried out, after which a comparative analysis was made with other similar systems. The system can ensure that votes are counted accurately and cannot be manipulated, thereby increasing confidence in the results of the voting process. In addition, the system can potentially reduce the costs associated with traditional voting methods and improve accessibility for voters, since it can be accessed remotely via a web interface. In general, the system will be of interest to various organizations and individuals seeking to conduct safe and transparent voting processes. Conclusion. The use of this software product will provide security and convenience when participating in various online voting, reliable storage of votes and the provision of detailed statistics on the conducted voting.
Open access
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
The rapid convergence of urbanization and digital technologies is fundamentally reshaping city governance through data-driven systems. This transformation, however, is largely controlled by surveillance capitalist entities, raising profound concerns for democratic values and citizen rights. As private interests extract behavioral data from public spaces without adequate oversight, the principles of transparency and civic participation are increasingly threatened. This erosion of data sovereignty represents a critical juncture in urban development, demanding urgent interdisciplinary attention. This comment proposes a paradigm shift in urban data governance, advocating for the reclamation of data sovereignty to prioritize community interests over corporate profit motives. The paper explores socio-technical pathways to achieve this goal, focusing on grassroots approaches that assert ‘data dignity’ through privacy-enhancing technologies and digital anonymity tools. It argues for the creation of distributed digital commons as viable alternatives to proprietary data silos, thereby democratizing access to and control over urban data. The discussion extends to long-term strategies, examining the potential of blockchain technologies and decentralized autonomous organizations in enabling self-sovereign data economies. These emerging models offer a vision of ‘crypto-cities’ liberated from extractive data practices, fostering environments where residents retain autonomy over their digital footprints. By critically evaluating these approaches, the paper aims to catalyze a reimagining of smart city technologies aligned with principles of equity, shared prosperity, and citizen empowerment. This realignment is essential for preserving democratic values in an increasingly digitized urban landscape.
Public distributed ledger systems often fall short for corporate use due to limited transaction processing capabilities, high costs, suboptimal consensus mechanisms, and inadequate data protection. As demand for advanced transaction-oriented analysis grows, distributed ledger technologies have gained attention across various sectors, driving the development of diverse blockchain architectures. This article examines the Hyperledger Fabric framework, focusing on its deployment using local command-line interfaces, architecture, and transaction mechanisms. Our proof of concept demonstrates the creation of resilient, scalable blockchain networks by applying modern software principles to distributed ledgers. We break down Hyperledger Fabric into containerized microservices, orchestrated with Docker and Kubernetes, to enhance flexibility and scalability. The study evaluates the Hyperledger Fabric architecture, data handling within the ledger, and operational efficiency through a rigorous analysis of transactions per second (TPS), latency, and overall performance. These metrics are assessed in a setup that closely emulates real-world scenarios, with multiple organizations participating in the distributed ledger system. This provides insights into the framework's viability for enterprise blockchain solutions.
R. Sudharsan, L. Giridharan, S. Anto Micheal Infant, Suresh Annamalai
Voting plays a crucial role in democracy as it is the mechanism through which the will of the people is translated into policies. Ensuring the security, reliability, and privacy of the voting process is necessary to maintain the legitimacy and integrity of the system as a whole. The immutability of voting systems based on blockchain has increased their popularity. Noteworthy advancements in the field of blockchain have been made in the recent decade. It has never been easy to create a secure voting process that preserves fairness and privacy while offering technology systems' adaptability. This research project introduces a method to leverage and integrate a permissioned blockchain, biometric authentication and zero-knowledge proof onto the traditional voting system. The main goal is to enhance the current voting system by making it more secure while ensuring voter's privacy.
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
The Internet of Things (IoT) system gathers data through diverse smart devices and sensors to make thorough decisions tailored to specific needs. Yet, in intricate IoT setups, privacy infringement occurs through various means like data collection, initial data handling, and data sharing. Therefore, the concealment of data during transmission should receive sufficient attention. The communication approach that merges blockchain technology with covert communication has shown progress in addressing the aforementioned issues. However, this integration has also led to challenges, such as low-data embedding rates and distinctive features in blockchain transactions containing covert data. To seek a solution with high-embedding rates that do not make generated transactions stand out distinctly, this article analyzes the Ethereum transaction field formats, identifies the input data field with high concealment and large capacity as the embedding target, then proposes a data covert transmission scheme based on hybrid embedding in contract fields. This scheme utilizes LSB steganography to embed high-capacity covert data in images, and embeds the URL of the image into the input data field of the Ethereum smart contract transaction, thereby increasing the embedding rates. Subsequently, to further enhance the concealment of this scheme, a data embedding method based on contract relationships is proposed. Through this technique, for the first time, covert data transmission is achieved solely through the invocation relationships of smart contracts within the blockchain covert communication environment, instead of directly embedding covert data into transactions. This method results in transactions that are theoretically indistinguishable from regular transactions, greatly enhancing the security of the scheme. Finally, an evaluation of undetectability, embedding rate, and scalability was conducted for the proposed schemes, concluding that the schemes presented in this article have significant advantages in all three areas.
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
In modern power collection systems, ensuring data integrity and transparency is critical for maintaining grid reliability and trust among stakeholders. Traditional centralized systems are vulnerable to tampering, lack transparency, and are susceptible to cyberattacks. In this paper, we propose a Consensus-based Integrity and Transparency Algorithm (CITA) that integrates blockchain technology and smart contracts to enhance data security in decentralized power grids. CITA employs a dual-layer Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to ensure the integrity of collected data and automate data verification through smart contracts. By utilizing off-chain storage, the system maintains scalability while reducing energy consumption. Experimental results show that CITA improves data integrity by 99.8%, reduces latency, and provides higher transparency compared to traditional and existing blockchain-based models. This makes CITA an ideal solution for real-time, secure, and scalable power data collection systems.
Elections and voting play a crucial role in the development of a democratic society, enabling the public to express their views and participate in the decision-making process. Voting methods have evolved from paper ballot systems to e-voting systems to preserve the integrity of votes, ensuring a secure, transparent, and verifiable process. Continuous efforts have been made to develop a secure e-voting system that eliminates fraud attempts and provides accurate voting results. In this paper, we propose the architecture of a blockchain-based e-voting system called VoteChain. Developed to support the existing voting system in the state of Palestine, VoteChain aims to provide secure e-voting with features such as auditability, verifiability, accuracy, privacy, flexibility, transparency, mobility, availability, convenience, data integrity, and distribution of authority. The work introduces a smart contract designed to meet the demands of e-voting, governing transactions, monitoring computations, enforcing acceptable usage policies, and managing data usage after transmission. The proposed system also adopts advanced cryptographic techniques to enhance security. VoteChain features a web-based interface to facilitate user interaction, providing protection against multiple or double voting to ensure the integrity of the election. Furthermore, VoteChain is designed with a user-friendly and easily accessible administrator interface for managing voters, constituencies, and candidates. It ensures equal participation rights for all voters, fostering fair and healthy competition among candidates while preserving voter anonymity. A comparative analysis demonstrates VoteChain’s advancements in privacy, security, and scalability over both traditional and blockchain-based e-voting systems.
Using the Ethereum blockchain for decentralized voting offers a secure, transparent, and tamper- resistant method for conducting online elections. This application runs on the Ethereum blockchain network, enabling participants to cast their votes and access voting results without needing any intermediaries. In this approach, votes Once information is stored on the blockchain, it cannot be altered or tampered with, ensuring transparency and trust in the recorded outcomes. Smart contracts are utilized to automate the voting process, ensuring it remains transparent and secure. The combination of blockchain technology and a decentralized system delivers a dependable and cost-efficient solution for conducting fair and trustworthy elections.
Proof-of-Authorization (PoA) consensus algorithms are widely used in permissioned blockchain networks due to their high throughput , security, and efficiency. However, PoA is susceptible to cloning attacks, where attackers copy the authenticator identity and key, thereby compromising the consensus integrity. This study proposes a novel randomized authenticator within the PoA framework to mitigate cloning attacks and solve the leader selection bottleneck. The main contributions include 1) Introducing unpredictability in leader selection through Verifiable Random Functions (VRFs) to prevent identity duplication.2) Dynamic group management using a hierarchical decentralized architecture of distributed ledgers that balances security and performance.3) Using threshold signatures to avoid a single point of failure among validators.4) Comprehensively analyzing attacks, security, randomness, and availability.5) Evaluating the effectiveness of a randomized authenticator by means of OMNET++ simulations to assess efficiency. By integrating randomness into leader selection and robust consensus design, the approach enables reliable and secure dynamic group management in decentralized networks.
Shraddha Vasant Prasad, D. Pushparaj Shetty, B. R. Shankar
The increasing adoption of Blockchain technology, spurred by the success of cryptocurrencies, has gained substantial traction across various sectors. A notable application of Blockchain technology is in electronic voting (e-voting), where decentralized nodes enhance the security and integrity of the voting process. Traditional voting methods suffer from shortcomings such as result delays, susceptibility to tampering, hijacking and destruction of voting machines. Given the scalability challenges of blockchains, a single blockchain network cannot feasibly cover all constituencies in a country. Therefore, a more effective approach is to implement multiple smaller independent blockchain networks, with each constituency having its own network and blockchain. This paper discusses the concept of one network and one blockchain for one constituency, which can be replicated for every other constituencies in the country to scale up. It explores a web3-based e-voting system utilizing private Ethereum blockchain technology, focusing on a network architecture and the design that features a DApp (Decentralized Application) application with a user-friendly interface for voting in polling booths and a governing Smart Contract. Voters can cast their votes using unique identifiers like Aadhaar or UID credentials. The outcomes of this proposed e-voting system demonstrate promising and viable performance for governmental elections. However, it is advisable to conduct trials in local elections or general body elections within institutions to validate its efficacy and reliability before wider adoption in larger democratic elections.
With the widespread use of cryptocurrencies and the development of anonymity network technology, how to effectively identify cryptocurrency transactions through anonymity networks such as Tor has become a major challenge in cybersecurity. We introduce a new traffic correlation technique, TSMCorr, aimed at identifying cryptocurrency transactions through anonymous networks like Tor. Traditional traffic correlation methods struggle with the high cost of deployment, while we leverage advanced feature engineering and deep learning, including a Traffic Volume Matrix (TSM), to develop a more accurate and efficient flow correlation model. TSMCorr not only improves upon existing methods in terms of F1 score by $15.5 \%$ on DeepCoFFEA dataset, but also lowers the computational time by $89 \%$, RAM consumption by $77.4 \%$, and model parameters by $11.5 \%$.
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Chaos-based Image/Signal Encryption
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Shai Matzliach, Tal Sinay, Kiril Danilchenko, Hadassa Daltrophe
This paper presents VoteChain (VoteChain), an innovative electronic voting system built on the EOS blockchain to enhance the security and transparency of elections. By leveraging Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) for voter eligibility verification, VoteChain ensures a secure, verifiable, and tamper-proof voting process. The system addresses critical vulnerabilities in traditional and electronic voting, such as susceptibility to fraud and limited accessibility, through the use of smart contracts and a decentralized application (dApp). With its scalable design, VoteChain maintains high performance even during peak voting periods, providing a transparent and immutable record of the electoral process. VoteChain offers a transformative approach to voting, paving the way for more inclusive and trustworthy democratic systems.
Reza Nourmohammadi, Mohammad Reza Sabramooz, Kaiwen Zhang, Chamseddine Talhi
This paper presents a pioneering federated learning framework that leverages a novel hierarchical aggregation approach, empowering clients to collaboratively generate the global model through multiple levels of aggregation. Additionally, a unique role definition mechanism is integrated into the framework to delineate clients’ roles and tasks in each learning round. Moreover, decentralized storage (e.g. IPFS) and blockchain technologies are employed for storing local models and their corresponding hash pointers, respectively, to improve data availability and integrity. We implemented our solution using using Keras, Scikit-learn, web3 and Solidity. The performance of the proposed framework is evaluated using a genomic breast cancer dataset sourced from the GDC portal, yielding a remarkable 98% accuracy for the global model after 12 rounds of learning while for a centrally trained model on the 70% of the entire dataset the accuracy was 95%. This clearly shows the effectiveness of the proposed framework.
G Vivekanandan, Prabahar Godwin James T, Divya Bansal, Madhav V Tejas · 6 authors
Democratic voting is one of the significant aspects of governance that has various complications which are as follows; Complication arising from transparency Complication arising from low voter turnout Complication arising from vulnerability to the manipulation of the elections Complication arising from low confidence in the election process Complication arising from forgery of voter id cards Complication arising from delays in the announcement of the results Complication arising from security breach. All these issues erode the credibility of elections and public faith. To them, blockchain has a perfect solution in that it is decentralized, secure, transparent, and cannot be tampered with technology. To realize our e-voting system, we built an evoting application as a smart contract on the Ethereum platform using digital wallets and solidity. A given voter is assigned tokens (gas) which are utilized every time they cast their vote in order to eliminate vote forgeries and other undesirable incidents. This blockchain-based system does not require physical polling stations; also, voting is scalable and secure with flexible consensus algorithms, cryptographic hashing, and measures in response to a 51% attack. It also incorporates fingerprint scanning, to further discourage fraud and make sure that the process is completely secure and transparent. Since these records are stored in a blockchain, the ability of a single unscrupulous agency trying to manipulate the records is very hard given that records are validated by the nodes in the network, making the voting process more secure and credible.