When given a cryptographic public verification key, a receiver needs to be sure about the authenticity of the sender. Whenever an adversary is able to replace a well-intended public verification key of one of two participants within a communication relationship, she is able to send maliciously signed messages, using her own secret key, thereby compromising the whole authorization system. To overcome these issues for small to medium-sized distributed sensor networks, we previously proposed the NFC-Key Exchange protocol. Using the NFC-KE challenge-response authorization scheme, an attacker will not be able to intercept any communication unless she is authorized by a centrally trusted authority. Though, the NFC-KE protocol considers only local file storages for the storing operations of the authorized public-keys. This approach is inherently vulnerable to any zero-day exploits that enable an attacker to infiltrate the filesystem. Additionally, once the central authority component is restarted or becomes corrupted, every previously exchanged key needs to be reauthenticated. By using the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) framework Hyperledger Fabric, this paper proposes a new extension concept for the NFC-KE protocol in order to enhance the security of the public-key store. By using this extension, the NFC-KE protocol gains increased tamper-resistance and outage resilience, due to the decentralized nature of the DLT.
Wireless medical sensor networks (WMSNs)-based medical systems are an emerging paradigm of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) in which the patients and doctors can access various healthcare services via wireless communication technology without visiting the hospital in person. However, an adversary attempts a variety of security attacks because the sensitive information in various fields is exchanged via an insecure channel. Thus, robust and lightweight authentication protocols are essential for providing dependable healthcare services in WMSN-based medical systems. Recently, Wang et al. (IEEE Internet of Things Journal, doi: 10.1109/JIOT.2021.3117762) proposed blockchain and physically unclonable functions (PUFs)-based lightweight authentication protocol for WMSN. They claimed that their protocol is resistant to cyber and physical security threats and also does provide necessary security requirements. However, we prove that their protocol is vulnerable to various security attacks, such as man-in-the-middle and session key disclosure attacks and also lacks mutual authentication. As a result, we propose a robust authentication protocol for WMSN using blockchain and PUF to address the security problems raised by Wang et al.’s scheme. we assess the security of the proposed scheme by using informal and formal security analyses, such as AVISPA simulation and the ROR oracle model. Furthermore, we present the testbed experiments using Raspberry PI 4 based on MIRACL Crypto SDK. Then, we show the performance of the enhanced scheme compared with related schemes based on testbed experiments. Consequently, our scheme is better suited for practical WMSN-based medical systems because it provides greater security and efficiency than competing schemes.
Advanced Authentication Protocols Security
User Authentication and Security Systems
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
There are a number of issues that existing authentication systems face in a smart community. These include insufficient authentication efficiency, an inflexible authentication methodology, and an unsecured data exchange server. The dependability and security of the proposed blockchain-based smart home strategy were extensively tested for confidentiality, integrity, and privacy, as well as other factors. In terms of the parameters of classic centralized architecture, blockchain technology is being used in the data storage and exchange blocks. To ensure data integrity both inside and outside of the smart home network, it is necessary to ensure that all users present in the network are authenticated. The network under consideration is built on the Ethereum platform. The performance measures to be considered were accuracy, security, and response time. The experimental results reveal that our proposed technique outperforms currently available techniques in terms of overall performance. In particular, when compared to other state-of-the-art systems, our proposed system has the highest accuracy of 96% and generates a stronger output in the second stage when compared to centralized architecture with an accuracy of 71%, representing a 25% difference in terms of improving the accuracy of smart homes.
In the modern processed world, it becomes more necessary to certify humans in a very secure way. There are modern square measure applications such as online banking or online search usage techniques that are depended on passwords, keys or individual identification card. These technologies and processes carry the danger that information may be forgotten, lost, or perhaps stolen. Therefore, the forms of identification promise a singular thanks to being ready to certify humans. A secure and confidential identification technique is the use of fingerprints. We proposed here IoT and Blockchain Based Intelligence Security System for Human Detection using an Improved ACO and Heap Algorithm. We proposed IoT and Blockchain Based Technology for ensuring the security of our system.
Ye Wang, Patrick Zuest, Yaxing Yao, Zhicong Lu · 5 authors
Decentralized finance (DeFi) enables crypto-asset holders to conduct complex financial transactions, while maintaining control over their assets in the blockchain ecosystem. However, the transparency of blockchain networks and the open mechanism of DeFi applications also cause new security issues. In this paper, we focus on sandwich attacks, where attackers take advantage of the transaction confirmation delay and cause financial losses for victims. We evaluate the impact and investigate users’ perceptions of sandwich attacks through a mix-method study. We find that due to users’ lack of technical background and insufficient notifications from the markets, many users were not aware of the existence and the impact of sandwich attacks. They also had a limited understanding of how to resolve the security issue. Interestingly, users showed high tolerance for the impact of sandwich attacks on individuals and the ecosystem, despite potential financial losses. We discuss general implications for users, DeFi applications, and the community.
Shenhui Zhang, Ming Tang, Xiulai Li, Boyi Liu · 8 authors
Robot Operating System (ROS) has received widespread utilization with the development of robotics, self-driving, etc., recently. Meanwhile, the other technology blockchain is frequently applied to various fields with its trustworthy characteristics and immutability in data storage. However, ROS has no ability to interact with the blockchain, which hinders research in related fields. Therefore, we wonder if we can develop a convenient tool to bridge ROS and blockchain. Inspired by this, we propose ROS-Ethereum. It bridges ROS and Ethereum, a widely used blockchain platform. ROS-Ethereum is based on the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) communication mechanism and the SM algorithm family along with Ethereum technology. Simply put, ROS-Ethereum allows users to invoke the contract when interacting with the blockchain, which makes this process easier and safer. We conduct experiments in real robots to verify the effectiveness of ROS-Ethereum and evaluate it from the following metrics: (1) the encryption efficiency and stability of the algorithm and (2) ROS-Ethereum transaction response time and packet loss rate.
Yuling Chen, Xiong Yang, Tao Li, Yi Ren · 5 authors
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is a distributed sensor network composed a large number of nodes with low cost, low performance and self-management. The special structure of WSN brings both convenience and vulnerability. For example, a malicious participant can launch attacks by capturing a physical device. Therefore, node authentication that can resist malicious attacks is very important to network security. Recently, blockchain technology has shown the potential to enhance the security of the Internet of Things (IoT). In this paper, we propose a Blockchain-empowered Authentication Scheme (BAS) for WSN. In our scheme, all nodes are managed by utilizing the identity information stored on the blockchain. Besides, the simulation experiment about worm detection is executed on BAS, and the security is evaluated from detection and infection rate. The experiment results indicate that the proposed scheme can effectively inhibit the spread and infection of worms in the network.
Abstract Autonomous vehicles (AV) can not only improve traffic safety and congestion, but also have strategic significance for the development of the transportation industry. With the continuous updating of core technologies such as artificial intelligence, sensor detection, synchronous positioning, and high‐precision mapping, the development of AV has been promoted. When 5G network is combined with Internet of Vehicles, the problems of AV can be solved by taking advantage of 5G ultra‐large bandwidth, low latency and high reliability. However, when the user controls the vehicle remotely, a real‐time and reliable authentication process is needed, while minimizing the overhead of security protocols. Therefore, this article proposes a practical and secure multifactor user authentication protocol for AV in 5G network. By introducing non‐interactive zero‐knowledge proof technology and physical uncloning function, the protocol completes mutual authentication and key agreement without revealing any sensitive information. The article proves the security of the protocol through BAN logic and the simulation of Scyther. And it can resist malicious attacks and provide more security features. The informal security analysis shows that the protocol can meet the proposed security requirements. Finally, we evaluate the efficiency of the protocol, and the results show that the protocol can provide better performance.
Abstract The electronic health record is the most sensitive data which needs a secure framework to protect it from data breaching. Recently, blockchain‐based platforms are used in healthcare services for data security, data sharing and availability of immutable data during medico‐legal verification. In this paper, a blockchain‐based approach for securing electronic health records using elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) and a biometric‐based fuzzy commitment scheme is proposed. The proposed approach addresses common issues of blockchain, namely scalability, integrity, confidentiality and decentralization of the ledger. The security of the proposed scheme was verified using the Random Oracle model. The block time for a variable number of transactions per block was measured and compared with the block time of the existing approaches. Also, the proposed approach was compared with the existing approaches with reference to various security features.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
User Authentication and Security Systems
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Abstract With the continuous development of blockchain technology, blockchain gradually becomes to play an important role in the fields of finance, medicine, and new energy. In the certification of the membership of the blockchain, a third‐party certificate authority (CA) is used for certification. Considering the centralized structure of CA, and it is difficult for users to evaluate the credibility of CA. A decentralized blockchain membership authentication scheme and a key agreement protocol based on the elliptic curve are proposed by us. The protocol effectively addresses the credibility and single point of failure problems of centralized CAs in the traditional model. Through analysis, our scheme can effectively perform user registration and membership authentication instead of CAs. The security and correctness of the protocol was also analyzed using the formal protocol analysis tool ProVerif and the Ck model. The key authentication protocol we proposed can resist a variety of attacks, and the computational time consumption and Communication costs are relatively low.
Xuehan Li, Tao Jing, Ruinian Li, Hui Li · 6 authors
In vehicularad hocnetworks (VANETs), road safety and road traffic efficiency can be improved through message interaction between vehicle users, which inevitably relies on secure identity authentication, and message credibility verification. Existing authentication and message verification mechanisms are prone to severe single points of failure and low authentication efficiency due to their reliance on the trusted third party, especially during the user registration phase. This article proposes a double-layer blockchain and decentralized identifiers assisted secure registration and authentication (BDRA) mechanism for decentralized VANETs, which can achieve the following advantages: 1) realizing a secure and decentralized user registration phase by using the decentralized identifier (DID) technology; 2) accomplishing efficient authentication and message verification by combining double-layer blockchain, DIDs and a reputation feedback strategy; and 3) enabling a more efficient cross section reregistration that reduces the communication time by 30%. The security features and efficiency of the BDRA mechanism are demonstrated by carrying out security analysis and performance evaluation, which is based on the hyperledger fabric (HLF) platform.
Jamil Asim, Adnan Shahid Khan, Rashad Mahmood Saqib, Johari Abdullah · 9 authors
There are continued advances in the internet and communication fields regarding the deployment of 5G-based applications. It is expected that by 2030, 6G applications will emerge as a continued evolution of the mobile network. Blockchain technology is one of the leading supporting technologies predicted to provide a secure and unique network to 6G-enabled devices, transactions, and applications. It is anticipated that the 6G mobile networks will be virtualized, have cloud-based systems, and aim to be the foundation for the Internet of Everything. However, along with the development of communication technologies, threats from malicious parties have become more sophisticated, making security a significant concern for the 6G era in the future. Despite enormous efforts by researchers to improve security and authentication protocols, systems still face novel intrusion and attacks. Recently, multifactor authentication techniques (MFA) have been deployed as potential solutions to attacks in blockchains. The 6G applications and the cellular network have specific vulnerabilities that need to be addressed using blockchain-based MFA technologies. The current paper is a systematic review that discusses the three technologies under consideration; then, several studies are reviewed that discuss MFA techniques in general and use blockchains as potential solutions to future security and authentication issues that may arise for 6G applications.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
User Authentication and Security Systems
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
A large number of refrigerated container are moved everyday domestically and internationally.The information of refrigerated container is usually stored centrally. It is prone to being tampered by the responsible party, making it difficult to call to account. Due to its characteristics of decentralization, transparency and immutability, blockchain technology can be used to alleviate this problem. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based refrigerated container traceability system that can trace the information of refrigerated container. We also design a smart contract to realize the information upload and query of refrigerated containers. The experimental results show that the blockchain traceability system and smart contract proposed can effectively monitor and trace refrigerated containers. It guarantees the integrity and reliability of traceability information.
Archaeological artifacts are important evidence to history. Hence, it becomes critical to store the data safely to prevent their tampering and destruction. The paper proposes a system that safely stores necessary archaeological data, such as the analysis and findings of these artifacts using Blockchain. This technology makes the data immutable and transparent. With the help of this system, tracing their details and tracking any changes made in their possession or data will become effortless. This functionality is achieved using the smart contracts of the Ethereum blockchain, which can authenticate, track, and hence secure the data about these artifacts at each step. Unlike other majority blockchain-based applications, the proposed approach is lightweight and faster. It considerably reduces computational power by integrating a distributed file storage system with blockchain.
The industrial healthcaresystem has enabled the possibility of realizing advanced real-time monitoring of patients and enriched the quality of medical services through data sharing among intelligent wearable devices and sensors. However, this connectivity brings the intrinsic vulnerabilities related to security and privacy due to the need of continuous communication and monitoring over public network (insecure channel). Motivated from the aforementioned discussions, we integrate permissioned blockchain and smart contract with deep learning (DL) techniques to design a novel secure and efficient data sharing framework named PBDL. Specifically, PBDL first has a blockchain scheme to register, verify (using zero-knowledge proof), and validate the communicating entities using the smart contract-based consensus mechanism. Second, the authenticated data are used to propose a novel DL scheme that combines stacked sparse variational autoencoder (SSVAE) with self-attention-based bidirectional long short term memory (SA-BiLSTM). In this scheme, SSVAE encodes or transforms the healthcare data into new format, and SA-BiLSTM identifies and improves the attack detection process. The security analysis and experimental results using IoT-Botnet and ToN-IoT datasets confirm the superiority of the PBDL framework over existing state-of-the-art techniques.
Yangxu Song, Frank Jiang, Syed Wajid Ali Shah, Robin Doss
With the development of 5G networking technology on the Internet of Vehicle (IoV), there are new opportunities for numerous cyber-attacks, such as in-vehicle attacks like hijacking occurrences and data theft. While numerous attempts have been made to protect against the potential attacks, there are still many unsolved problems such as developing a fine-grained access control system. This is reflected by the granularity of security as well as the related data that are hosted on these platforms. Among the most notable trends is the increased usage of smart devices, IoV, cloud services, emerging technologies aim at accessing, storing and processing data. Most popular authentication protocols rely on knowledge-factor for authentication that is infamously known to be vulnerable to subversions. Recently, the zero-trust framework has drawn huge attention; there is an urgent need to develop further the existing Continuous Authentication (CA) technique to achieve the zero-trustiness framework. In this paper, firstly, we develop the static authentication process and propose a secured protocol to generate the smart key for user to unlock the vehicle. Then, we proposed a novel and secure continuous authentication system for IoVs. We present the proof-of-concept of our CA scheme by building a prototype that leverages the commodity fingerprint sensors, NFC, and smartphone. Our evaluations in real-world settings demonstrate the appropriateness of CA scheme and security analysis of our proposed protocol for digital key suggests its enhanced security against the known attack-vector.
B. D. Deebak, Fida Hussain Memon, Kapal Dev, Sunder Ali Khowaja · 6 authors
The advancement of sensory technologies proliferates the development of low-cost electronics systems to operate the environmental features of smart cities. Global urbanization integrates networking systems to offer computing-based practical solutions for improving the quality of application-oriented services. Few existing studies have primarily focused on a single-point vulnerability for decentralized IoT applications. However, very few mechanisms address the issues concerning privacy-preserving and trust-aware authentication for IoT-enabled industrial applications. Moreover, the existing schemes are in fact not applicable to real-time scenarios, such as decentralized networks and long-term evolution advanced networks. Thus, this article presents a trust-aware blockchain-based seamless authentication with privacy-preserving (TAB-SAPP) to resolve the critical things, such as privacy, security, and packet delivery ratio. In the proposed TAB-SAPP, a novel data traffic pattern is utilized using identity management to show that the proposed mechanism can be more functional in expanding users’ connectivity to improve the communication metrics, such as packet delivery ratio and mobility speed.
A secure electronic learning platform has been created to enable teachers and students to log into their accounts to learn efficiently and safely at any place and time. This platform has been proposed due to the urgent need to develop the education system and move it from traditional to interactive e-learning. In this paper, an application implemented that access remotely using a web browser interface and saved on a server depends on a Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) system with an RSA algorithm was employed to solve registration and login challenges and securely transfer passwords. Using adapted AES to encrypt each user's personal information, Exams, and save it in in encrypted form in the database. The simulated results in this paper indicate the existence of a secure e-learning system, where security was achieved by performing the registration and login process without sending the password in its explicit form over an insecure network such as the Internet, in addition to encrypting the necessary information to be stored in an incomprehensible manner in the database, in the case of presence of an attack on the database.
Blockchain technology is essentially a decentralized database maintained by relevant parties and has been widely used in various scenarios such as logistics and finance. In terms of applications in the medical field, it is becoming more and more important because the patient's symptoms may be related to a certain vaccine. Whether the patient has been vaccinated with this vaccine will lead to different diagnostic results by the doctor. However, in the current vaccination environment of many regions, the vaccination record (VR) can only be kept in the patient's vaccination booklet, which is easy to lose or destroy. Therefore, the doctor needs to retrieve the patient's VR through a centralized database maintained by the government, which is time-consuming and will increase the medical risk. This study proposes a traceable blockchain-based vaccination record storage and sharing system. In the proposed system, the patient gets the vaccination at any legal clinic and the VR can be saved accompanied by the signature into the blockchain center, which ensures traceability. When the patient visits the hospital for treatment, the doctor can obtain the detail of the VR from the blockchain center and then make a diagnosis. The security of the proposed system will be protected by the programmed smart contracts. Through mutual authentication, our system can also provide and guarantee data integrity and nonrepudiation. Moreover, the proposed system has resistance to replay and man-in-the-middle attacks, and the performance is good.
Salma Salimi, Jorge Peña Queralta, Tomi Westerlund
Trust is increasingly becoming a key consideration in the design of autonomous robotic systems. In industrial applications, security and trust in the system are requirements for widespread adoption. Blockchain technologies have emerged as a potential solution to address identity management and secure data aggregation and control. However, the vast majority of works to date utilize Ethereum and smart contracts that are not scalable or well suited for industrial applications. This paper presents what is, to the best of our knowledge, the first integration of ROS 2 with the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain. With a framework that leverages Fabric smart contracts and ROS 2 through a Go application, we delve into the potential of using blockchain for controlling robots, and gathering and processing their data. We demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework to an inventory management use-case where different robots are used to detect objects of interest in a given area. Designed to meet the requirements of distributed robotic systems, we show that the performance of the robots is not impacted significantly by the blockchain layer. At the same time, we provide examples for developing other applications that integrate Fabric smart contracts with ROS 2. Our results pave the way for further adoption of blockchain technologies in autonomous robotic systems for building trustable data sharing.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a concept that is transforming our everyday life. Because of its capacity to change people's lives, it has become a vital element of our lives. IoT devices are being used by an increasing number of businesses because they provide new opportunities for wearable devices, home appliances, and healthcare. With all of these possibilities, the risks associated with IoT security are increasing. One of the most challenging aspects of any IoT application is device identification. Things in the IoT share and process data without the need for human interaction. As a result of their total authority, these entities must authenticate and recognize one another effectively. Failure to legitimately authenticating the IoT devices can make them vulnerable to a number of assaults such as DDoS and replay attacks. It is nearly hard to develop an effective authentication system due to the size and other characteristics of IoT. Although a lot of work has been done on this issue, the majority of these solutions rely on a centralized system. These centralized systems are segregated and incompatible with one another, making information exchange between them impossible. In addition, once a centralized authority is attacked, the user's privacy can be exposed easily. Proof of security, decentralization, and anonymity characteristics of blockchain can help address these issues. With blockchain technology applied to IoT systems, obstacles to IoT architecture development and security can be overcome. This paper, therefore, focuses on covering current advancements made in the application of blockchain for authentication in IoT. There is a lack of survey papers on the use of blockchain for authentication in IoT this paper will serve as an aide. This paper will also add to the knowledge of researchers who are interested in IoT security.
Abstract The recent years have garnered huge attention towards the Internet of Things (IoT) because it enables its consumers to improve their lifestyles and professionally keep up with the technological advancements in the cyber-physical world. The IoT edge devices are heterogeneous in terms of the technology they are built on and the storage file formats used. These devices require highly secure modes of mutual authentication to authenticate each other before actually sending the data. Mutual authentication is a very important aspect of peer-to-peer communication. Secure session keys enable these resource-constrained devices to authenticate each other. After successful authentication, a device can be authorized and can be granted access to shared resources. The need for validating a device requesting data transfer to avoid data privacy breaches that may compromise confidentiality and integrity. Blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) both are extensively being used as an integrated part of IoT networks for security enhancements. Blockchain provides a decentralized mechanism to store validated session keys that can be allotted to the network devices. Blockchain is also used to load balance the stressing edge devices during low battery levels. AI on the other hand provides better learning and adaptiveness towards IoT attacks. The integration of newer technologies in IoT key management yields enhanced security features. In this article, we systematically survey recent trending technologies from an IoT security point of view and discuss traditional key security mechanisms. This article delivers a comprehensive quality study for researchers on authentication and session keys, integrating IoT with blockchain and AI-based authentication in cybersecurity.
Blockchain science's distributed system structure makes it an ideal option for addressing device-to-device transmission data breaches. This paper investigates the potential use of blockchain systems to enhance Information security issues in the context of the 5G Mobile communication infrastructure. Relying on blockchains, we offer a multi-layer protection network architecture for IoT networks. By splitting the IOT based platform infrastructure into a multi-layer decentralized system, the suggested approach overcomes the issues connected with the real establishment of distributed ledger technology. We split the infrastructure into K-based clusters in the conceptual scheme by utilizing Evolutionary - based methods such as Evolutionary Computation and Particle-based Swarm intelligence evaluation. Every Cluster Members selects a unique access control for identification and authorization purposes inside every cluster group head (CGH). The distributed ledgers technology's strong security and trustworthiness guarantee offers an authentication system for CGHs communicating with one another and Ground Stations via a localized blockchain application with no need for a centralized controller. In addition, we suggest a worldwide blockchain deployment for base stations communications. Furthermore, to validate the proposed methodology, we use the free software blockchain application Hyper ledger Cloud hosting Network.