Blockchain-enhanced Smart Grid has attracted a lot of attention from scholars in recent years, due to its excellent decentralization, anti-collusion and immutability. With the wide deployment of blockchain and the popularity of more accurate intelligent applications, its role in Smart Grid is becoming more and more irreplaceable. However, because of the threat of quantum computer, it still confronts the risk of privacy disclosure. In this paper, we propose a novel and dynamic range query privacy-preserving scheme for blockchain-enhanced Smart Grid based on lattice. In this scheme, lattice-based homomorphic encryption algorithm is designed to resist the attack of quantum computer and realizes data aggregation to improve efficiency. In particular, this article designs a dynamic range query method with the aid of consortium blockchain by using proxy re-encryption. This method avoids the communication pressure caused by repeated data collection and improves the query efficiency and user experience. In addition, dynamic ciphertext and users update are considered, which further improves the flexibility and feasibility of the scheme. Last but not least, security analysis, exhaustive performance analysis and experiments show that our proposed scheme meets the requirements of dynamic, privacy, security and low computational cost.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Cryptography and Data Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
The Internet of Things (IoT) has become a pervasive technology with various applications ranging from smart homes and cities to industrial automation and healthcare. However, the increasing adoption of IoT devices has also raised significant concerns about cybersecurity and privacy. Blockchain, as a distributed and immutable ledger technology, has been proposed as a potential solution to enhance the security and privacy of IoT systems. Blockchain-based IoT systems offer several benefits, such as decentralization, transparency, and data integrity. However, they also pose unique cybersecurity challenges that need to be addressed for their secure and reliable deployment. In this paper, we review the existing literature and highlight the key challenges in cybersecurity for blockchain-based IoT systems. We categorize these challenges into three main areas: (i) IoT device security, (ii) blockchain security, and (iii) integration of IoT devices with blockchain (network security). Through an in-depth analysis, we present the current state of research and discuss potential solutions for each challenge. Additionally, we contribute by identifying future research directions to address these challenges and enhance the cybersecurity of blockchain-based IoT systems.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
IoT and Edge/Fog Computing
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Recently, blockchain-based covert communication has gained momentum, for the decentralization, anonymity, and immutability feature of blockchain. Nevertheless, some challenges impair its security and efficiency. Most schemes have a weak generalization ability, and can merely be applied to a specific blockchain platform. Storage-based covert transmission schemes usually have limited space for data embedding, affecting their Information delivery efficiency. Besides, static data sifting rules raise the risk of information leakage. In this paper, we design DLCCB(Dynamic Labeling based Covert Communication on Blockchain). We first split the information to be delivered into several pieces and utilize the destination address of each transaction to embed them. Then a dynamic labeling method is proposed for updating sifting rules without extra negotiation between sender and receiver. Besides, we design two kinds of sifting algorithms, namely online and offline sifting algorithm. We perform our solution on Ropsten, a test net of Ethereum. The experiment result verifies the feasibility of our scheme.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Thiruvaazhi Uloli, K Sowmiya, P Vedhakalaivani, R Nathiyaa
Blockchain has become a technology and business disruptor with a significant potential for both use and misuse. The distributed architecture combined with the integrity assurance given by the hash as well as the anonymity provided because of the use of identity derived from the public key has made this a revolutionary combination. The positive popularity is because of the anonymity it provides to the transactions and the same is also the reason that regulators, governments, and law enforcement authorities the world over are genuinely concerned about it. Hence it is essential for anyone who wants to track this technology to understand the depth of anonymity it provides. In this paper, we survey, analyse and present the methods by which it is possible to deanonymize and reveal the identity of interesting entities of bitcoin transactions.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
In the blockchain network, the communication delay between different nodes is a great threat to the distributed ledger consistency of each miner. Blockchain is the core technology of Bitcoin. At present, some research has proven the security of the PoW protocol when the number of delay rounds is small, but in complex asynchronous networks, the research is insufficient on the security of the PoW protocol when the number of delay rounds is large. This paper improves the proposed blockchain main chain record model under the PoW protocol and then proposes the TOD model, which makes the main chain record in the model more close to the actual situation and reduces the errors caused by the establishment of the model in the analysis process. By comparing the differences between the TOD model and the original model, it is verified that the improved model has a higher success rate of attack when the probability of mining the delayable block increases. Then, the long delay attack is improved on the balance attack in this paper, which makes the adversary control part of the computing power and improves the success rate of the adversary attack within a certain limit.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Elections are an important event that is responsible for shaping democracies around the world, but still there are many populations around the world who do not fully trust the electoral system which has become one of the major concerns for democracies around the world. Even the world’s greatest democracies, such as India and Japan, have a flawed legal system. Vote rigging, EVM (Electronic Vote Machine) hacking, election tampering, booth capture squares, etc. are the main causes of the problems in the current voting method utilized in these countries. It has proven challenging to develop an electronic voting system that is both secure and safe and that offers a higher level of security, fairness, and privacy than current voting techniques while simultaneously offering the transparency and flexibility. Replacing the existing pen-andpaper (ballot-based voting) approach with a new election system offers the potential to reduce fraud and increase security while also increasing efficiency. Blockchain is a technology that promises to increase the overall robustness and security of various e-voting systems. The paper outlines a great attempt to develop a trustworthy and efficient voting system using blockchain’s properties, including its transparency and cryptographic foundations. The system offers end-to-end verifiability and satisfies the fundamental criteria for e-voting methods. The paper covers the electronic voting system and how it would work on the Multichain network.
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Aitizaz Ali, Muhammad Fermi Pasha, Antonio Guerrieri, Antonella Guzzo · 8 authors
Securing Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) is one of the most critical applications of cryptography over the Internet due to the value and importance of data contained in such EMRs. Although blockchain-based healthcare systems can provide security, privacy, and immutability to EMRs, several outstanding security and latency issues are associated with existing schemes. For example, some researchers have used the blockchain as a storage tool which increases delay and adversely affects the blockchain performance since it stores a copy of each transaction. A distributed ledger also requires appropriate space and computational power with increased data size. In addition, existing healthcare-based approaches usually rely on centralized servers connected to clouds, which are vulnerable to denial of service (DoS), distributed DoS (DDoS), and collusion attacks. This paper proposes a novel hybrid-deep learning-based homomorphic encryption (HE) model for the Industrial Internet of Medical Things (IIoMT) to cope with such challenges using a consortium blockchain. Integrating HE with the proposed IIoMT system is a vital contribution of this work. The use of HE while outsourcing to the cloud the storage provides a unique facility to perform any statistical and machine learning operation on the encrypted EMR data, hence providing resistance to collusion and phishing attacks. Our proposed model uses a pre-trained hybrid deep learning model in the cloud and deploys the trained model into blockchain-based edge devices in order to classify and train local models using EMRs. This is further conditioned on the private data of each edge and IoT device connected with the consortium blockchain. All local models obtained are aggregated to the cloud to update a global model, which is finally disseminated to the edge nodes. Our proposed approach provides more privacy and security than conventional models and can deliver high efficiency and low end-to-end latency for users. Comparative simulation analysis with state-of-the-art approaches is carried out using benchmark performance metrics, which show that our proposed model provides enhanced security, efficiency, and transparency.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Frederik Temmermans, Sabrina Caldwell, Symeon Papadopoulos, Fernando Pereira · 5 authors
Advances in media content manipulation and artificially generated content pose new challenges to the assessment of media authenticity. While automated detection methods can provide meaningful insights and decision support in some scenarios, they cannot provide trustworthy and comprehensive information about the origin and provenance of media assets. Therefore, a longer-term approach should rather focus on secure and interoperable annotations related to the creation and provenance of media. In October 2020, the JPEG Committee initiated a standardization exploration named "JPEG Fake Media" to address these needs. Subsequently, since many of the requirements, for example related to secure annotation and identification of media assets, are also relevant to achieve interoperability in Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) an additional exploration was initiated, specifically focused on standardization needs for NFTs. In April 2022 a first Call for Proposals on JPEG Fake Media was issued. Based on the responses to the call, a new standardization project named JPEG Trust was initiated to specify an interoperable framework for establishing trust in media production, distribution, and consumption. This paper presents the journey of JPEG to leverage formal methods of standardization in this context, starting from the initial JPEG Fake Media exploration, followed by the subsequent consideration of NFT use cases and requirements, through to the commencement of the new JPEG Trust international standard.
Open access
2 source records
Digital Media Forensic Detection
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
The evolution of Aadhaar, an identification system executed by the Indian government that provides each citizen with a unique identity, is analyzed within the context of the creation of Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI), which distributes and generates user identities based on and biometric and demographic information. The study gives a comprehensive outline of security issues related to the Aadhaar authentication process and analyzes the updates introduced over time. The main objective of this study is to comprehensively cover the security perspectives related to Aadhaar and provide conceivable arrangements to mitigate the security threats through the development and implementation of a decentralized fingerprinting system that uses Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to empower secure peer-to-peer data exchange leveraging zero-knowledge proofs. The proposed solution shows the necessary data digitally by integrating data logging strategies to keep track of individuals accessing the data ensuring end-to-end encryption. In this way, it empowers Aadhaar holders to selectively disclose their information to authorized entities while preserving the confidentiality and integrity of the data.
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Gelişen teknolojinin sağladığı olanaklar sayesinde internet kullanımıyla gerçekleştirilen işlemlerde artış olmuş ve bu da verilerde artışa neden olmuştur. Bu durum işletmeler için verilerin güvenli bir şekilde saklanması, paylaşılması, kontrolünün sağlaması ve yönetilmesine yönelik yeni teknoloji ihtiyacı doğurmuştur. Bu kapsamda faydalanılabilecek güncel teknolojilerden birisi de blok zinciri (Blockchain) yapısıdır. Blok zinciri yapısı birçok alanda kullanılabilecek bir teknoloji olup günümüzde en popüler kullanım alanı kripto paralar üzerinde olmaktadır. Bu çalışmada önemli alt kripto para birimlerinden biri olan Polkadot kripto para birimi için tahminleme işlemi yapılması amaçlanmıştır. Yapılan çalışmada 20.08.2020 ve 27.02.2023 tarihleri arasındaki veriler kullanılmış olup, bu verilere göre çıktı değer olarak günlük ortalama Polkadot değerinin tahmin edilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Girdi değerleri için kümeler iki farklı şekilde oluşturulmuştur. İlk girdi değerlerinde; Polkadot YouTube arama sayısı, Polkadot Google arama sayısı ve Polkadot hacmi kullanılmıştır. İkinci girdi değerlerinde ise ilk girdi değerlerinden farklı olarak alt kripto paraların lideri Ethereum eklenmiştir. İki farklı girdi yapısından oluşan bu çalışmada Polkadot para birimi günlük ortalama değerlerinin tahminlenebilmesi için yapay sinir ağlarında çok katmanlı algılayıcılar ile derin öğrenme yöntemlerinden olan uzun kısa süreli bellek yapısı kullanılarak tahminleme çalışması yapılmıştır. Sonuçlar incelendiğinde elde edilen yapay sinir ağlarında 4 girdi kümesinden oluşan değerlerin 0,93 korelasyon katsayısı ile daha iyi sonuç verdiği belirlenmiştir.
Open access
Currency Recognition and Detection
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
A decentralized lottery system using blockchain technology can offer a transparent and secure way to conduct lotteries without the need for a central authority. The system is built on a smart contract that defines the rules of the lottery, participants can purchase lottery tickets by sending cryptocurrency to the smart contract, and the winning ticket(s) are selected using a provably fair algorithm. The prize money is distributed automatically to the winners' cryptocurrency addresses using the smart contract, and all transactions and lottery results are recorded on the blockchain for transparency and immutability. While the system offers benefits such as trust, transparency, security, and accessibility, there are also potential challenges and considerations to keep in mind such as regulatory compliance, adoption, scalability, and user experience.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Gambling Behavior and Treatments
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Recently, blockchain has become more popular as it fosters trust between untrusting participants. This paper uses blockchain technology to combat the sale of counterfeit products. In today’s global marketplace, fake goods detection is a problem that is becoming more and more significant. The growth of fake products can harm consumers, cause brand reputation damage, and cost real firms money. The usage of blockchain technology is one potential fix for this issue. Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that makes it possible to trace transactions securely and openly. Blockchain can aid in preventing the creation and sale of counterfeit goods by creating an unchangeable and impenetrable record of the supply chain. Smart contracts can be used in this situation to automate the verification process and make sure that only genuine goods are sold through legitimate channels. This essay will examine the drawbacks and potential advantages of using blockchain technology to identify counterfeit goods.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Malware Detection Techniques
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Venkata K. V. V. Bathalapalli, Saraju P. Mohanty, Elias Kougianos, Vasanth Iyer · 5 authors
This work presents a sustainable cybersecurity solution using Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF), Trusted Platform Module (TPM), and Tangle Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for sustainable device and data security. Security-by-Design (SbD) or Hardware- Assisted Security (HAS) solutions have gained much prominence due to the requirement of tamper-proof storage for hardwareassisted cryptography solutions. Designing complex security mechanisms can impact their efficiency as IoT applications are more decentralized. In the proposed architecture, we presented a novel TPM-enabled PUF-based security mechanism with effective integration of PUF with TPM. The proposed mechanism is based on the process of sealing the PUF key in the TPM, which cannot be accessed outside the TPM and can only be unsealed by the TPM itself. A specified NV-index is assigned to each IoT node for sealing the PUF key to TPM using the Media Access Control (MAC) address. Access to the TPM's Non-Volatile Random Access Memory (NVRAM) is defined by the TPM's Enhanced Authorization policies as specified by the Trust Computing Group (TCG). The proposed architecture uses Tangle for sustainable data security and storage in decentralized IoT systems through a Masked Authentication Messaging (MAM) scheme for efficient and secure access control to Tangle. We validated the proposed approach through experimental analysis and implementation, which substantiates the potential of the presented PUFchain 4.0 for decentralized IoT-driven security solutions.
Open access
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Advanced Memory and Neural Computing
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
A generalized scheme of remote electronic voice based on homomorphic encryption is considered. Two methods of protecting the voting system from the threat from the voter, consisting in incorrect filling of the ballot by the voter, are investigated. Both methods are based on the algorithms of “zero-knowledge proof”. Evaluations of the complexity of calculations in the formation of proof of the correctness of filling in the ballot by the voter and Evaluations of the complexity of verification of the proof by the controlling party are obtained. A comparative analysis of the complexity of the implementation of both methods has shown that the method based on the proof based on the equality of logarithms has less complexity of calculations on the voter's side compared to the method based on the mixing of votes. At the same time, the second method (the method of mixing votes) requires 1.67 times less calculations in the blockchain, which becomes a significant factor in choosing the second method in favor of a large number of voters.
Open access
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Cryptography and Data Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Prof. Afsha Akkalot, Parth Vijaykumar Lashkare, Hemant Patel, Dharmendrasingh Rajpurohit
Abstract: The emergence of blockchain technology has paved the way for the development of secured e-voting systems that are transparent, immutable, and tamper-proof. In this survey report, we examine the current trends and future prospects of using blockchain technology for e-voting. We begin by exploring the key features of blockchain technology, including distributed ledger, cryptographic security, and decentralized consensus mechanisms. Next, we discuss the benefits of using blockchain technology for e-voting, including voter anonymity, transparent voting process, and immutable voting records. To gain a better understanding of the current state of the field, we conducted a survey of recent literature on blockchain-based evoting systems. The survey covers research articles, white papers, and conference proceedings published in the last five years. We analysed the data using statistical software and present our findings on the most commonly used consensus algorithms, cryptographic techniques, and blockchain architectures in e-voting systems. Our survey also highlights the challenges facing the adoption of blockchain-based e-voting systems, including scalability, usability, and regulatory issues. We conclude by discussing the future prospects of blockchain-based e-voting systems and identifying the areas that require further research and development. Overall, this survey report provides valuable insights into the current trends and future prospects of using blockchain technology for e-voting, and will be useful for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners working in this field.
Open access
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Privacy-Preserving Technologies in Data
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
In the current age of digital world with the emergence of metaverse, digital assets are increasingly recognized and become more and more valuable. Unlike real-world assets, managing digital contents is more challenging since their associated information might be leaked widely on the Internet, making them worthless. Traditional digital asset management (DAM) systems based on third-party authorities and centralized databases have various weaknesses, threatening the benefits of stakeholders. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based DAM framework utilizing smart contract, InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), and multi-layer encryption mechanisms for access control of digital assets in the metaverse. Our proposed design eliminates the intervention of intermediaries and offers a wide range of advanced security features such as resistance against data leakage and data alteration without trust assumptions among participants. Besides, key features of blockchain are leveraged to provide the system with immutability, traceability and transparency of information. To prove the feasibility of our design, we build a Decentralized Application (DApp) operating as a marketplace for digital assets using the proposed DAM framework. Experimental results indicate that the framework is more cost-effective than existing platforms, while advanced security features are integrated and automation is maximized.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Blockchain technology can construct a distributed and trusted ledger, which can be used for electronic voting (E-voting) systems to ensure the security of voting data and improve government credibility. However, existing blockchain-based solutions cannot fully fulfill five core requirements in E-voting, i.e., auditability, privacy, authentication, correctness, and unreusability, which make them unpractical in the reality. In this paper, we propose a Double Blockchain-based E-voting (DBE-voting) system, which consists of a private blockchain and a public blockchain. In the proposed system, the voter information is only recorded in the private blockchain for further auditing and the voting results are recorded in both blockchains. The voter's privacy can be protected in the private blockchain while the voting results can be queried in the public blockchain for verifying the correctness of the election process. Moreover, the ballot recorded in both blockchains is signed with a valid linkable ring signature to ensure authentication and unreusability. We propose an on-chain and off-chain hybrid storage mechanism to ensure the consistency and correctness of voting data in two blockchains. Experimental results demonstrate that the throughput of our system can reach 29 transactions per second when the block size is 512 KB. The security analysis shows that the DBE-voting is the first blockchain-based system that can meet all five requirements simultaneously.
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Secret Image Sharing (SIS) is the technology that shares any given secret image by generating and distributing$n$shadow images in the way that any subset of$k$shadow images can restore the secret image. However, in the existing SIS schemes, the shadow images will be easily tampered and corrupted during the communication, which will pose serious security issues. Recently, blockchain has emerged as a promising paradigm in the field of data communication and information security. To securely communicate and effectively protect the secret image data in wireless networks, we propose a Blockchain-based Secure and Efficient Secret Image Sharing (BC-SESIS) scheme with outsourcing computation in wireless networks. In the proposed BC-SESIS scheme, the shadow images are encrypted and stored in the blockchain to prevent them from being tampered and corrupted. The identity authentication-enabled smart contract is deployed to achieve the$(k,n)$threshold for secret image restoring. Furthermore, to reduce the computational burden of smart contract and users, an efficient outsourcing computation method is designed to outsource the restoring task, which is securely implemented by agent miners in the encryption domain. Theoretical analysis and extensive experiments demonstrate that the BC-SESIS scheme can achieve desirable communication security and high computational efficiency in the wireless networks.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
The blockchain’s immutability permits widespread application in untrusted contexts, such as digital currency, the Internet of Things, and anti-counterfeiting. This functionality, however, presents difficulties for regulators, developers, and users. For instance, unsuitable data may be permanently retained, blockchains may breach applicable rules and regulations, and smart contracts may contain bugs. To elegantly address a series of issues arising from the immutability of the blockchain, we propose a redactable blockchain that utilizes trapdoor-hash to repair harmful data in the blockchain, allowing for efficient transaction editing, deletion, and smart contract repair without destroying the blockchain structure or security features. Additionally, our solution provides fine-grained control over modification authority, allowing the user to change the transaction he initiated and the regulators to delete the erroneous transaction. Finally, we integrate and test the suggested technique with one of the most influential enterprise-grade permissioned blockchain platforms, Hyperledger Fabric. The results demonstrate that our technique has a low overhead when compared to an immutable blockchain. As compared to other existing redactable blockchains, our technique provides greater permission control flexibility without sacrificing efficiency or performance.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Cryptography and Data Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Museums as traditional institutions are usually not leaders in the use of the latest and disruptive technologies. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has influenced the growing interest of researchers and museum experts in new solutions for communication and museum operations. That is how blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFT) entered the focus of museums. Although it is most often associated with cryptocurrencies, this technology, due to its main property, the immutability of records on the chain, has great potential for use in various aspects of museum work.This paper will show how blockchain and NFTs can be used in museums, from checking the provenance, ownership, and authorship of museum objects, facilitating their borrowing, more efficient digital rights management to building smart museums. It will also focus on how museums have so far experimented with NFTs and blockchain technology and highlight the potential problems of their use. Huge challenges to understanding and adopting this technology is the lack of knowledge base and this paper aims to bring the topic of blockchain technology within the museum field to the table and start a conversation on this fast-growing new technology and possibilities of its implementation.
Archaeological Research and Protection
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
With the proliferation of the Internet, particularly the rise of social media, digital images have gradually become an important part of life, and trading platforms have emerged for buying and selling images. However, traditional image trading service providers may disclose users' private information for profit. Additionally, many image trading platforms disregard the fairness of a transaction and the issue of copyright protection after an image is sold. This neglect harms the interests of users and affects their enthusiasm for trading. A secure way to safely transact images is needed. We proposed a copyright-preserving and fair image trading scheme based on blockchain, which combines amplifying locality-sensitive hashing with searchable symmetric encryption to achieve safe image retrieval on blockchain and ensure the credibility of the image retrieval process. Additionally, we use digital fingerprint and watermark technologies to realize the copyright protection of images and use smart contracts to achieve fair transaction processes. The experimental results show that our scheme can protect image copyrights and realize a fair trading process while ensuring efficiency.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
With the development of computer and information technology, diverse types of data are being created daily. This data along with big data technologies could give a lot of useful information when used right. To make this possible, many data trading platforms exist now. But since these systems are based on a third party platform who collect and trade data, there are many privacy and security concerns. To solve these problems, blockchain technology have been being proposed. The decentralised and transparent nature of blockchain could help to solve many security concerns. In this work, we provide a survey on data trading systems which utilize blockchain as the primary entity for trust-enabling to avoid any intermediaries. We provide an overview of blockchain technology and discuss the working and limitations of the centralized data trading systems. Also, we provide insights into DApp and Ethereum blockchain.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques