Integrating blockchain technology into the Internet of Things (IoT) has revolutionized industries, enabling decentralized and reliable management of systems, while improving both efficiency and security. However, a key challenge for blockchain-based IoT solutions is ensuring the accuracy of data fed into the blockchain, known as the “blockchain oracle problem.” This work addresses this challenge by proposing the BIVO system (blockchain information verification oracles), a blockchain-based decentralized oracle for IoT networks. The system utilizes a reputation and voting mechanism suitable for both crowdsourced and semi-controlled environments. We also model the weighted voting mechanism as a stochastic game and conduct stress tests to analyze the system’s expected accuracy and cumulative payoffs under various conditions. Our findings indicate that the system achieves higher accuracy compared to nonweighted voting approaches. In semi-controlled environments, the system demonstrates resilience against up to 64% of adversarial nodes. However, under the worst conditions, malicious nodes need to control no more than 36% of the network to benefit from malicious behavior. Additionally, we implemented a prototype of the BIVO system and deployed it on both a local blockchain simulator and the public Ethereum testnet Sepolia to evaluate the cost and feasibility of blockchain integration.
Jan Lauinger, Jens Ernstberger, Andreas Finkenzeller, Sebastian Steinhorst
Web users can gather data from secure endpoints and demonstrate the provenance of sensitive data to any third party by using privacy-preserving TLS oracles. In practice, privacy-preserving TLS oracles remain limited and cannot verify larger, sensitive data sets. In this work, we introduce new optimizations for TLS oracles, which enhance the efficiency of selectively verifying the provenance of confidential web data. The novelty of our work is a construction which secures an honest verifier zero-knowledge proof system in the asymmetric privacy setting while retaining security against malicious adversaries. Concerning TLS 1.3 in the one round-trip time (1-RTT) mode, we propose a new, optimized garble-then-prove paradigm in a security setting with malicious adversaries. Our improvements reach new performance benchmarks and facilitate a practical deployment of privacy-preserving TLS oracles in web browsers.
This research introduces a solution to escalating data security and privacy concerns by utilizing Ethereum-based blockchain technologies, like Polygon, and NFTs for decentralized document storage and authentication. Unique NFTs associated with each document are cryptographic proofs, minted and recorded on the blockchain to ensure resilience and tamper resistance. This research experiments with the use of Solidity based smart contract along with a decentralized file storage protocal, IPFS, to enhance flexibility and scalability.
Nana Kong, Zhifeng Wan, Cui Xu, Xukai Liu · 6 authors
In the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) environment, a multitude of sensing devices continually gather critical data. These data are indispensable for the operations and advancements across diverse industries. However, the sharing of these data poses privacy threats, with attackers exploiting channel analysis and physical device attacks to access sensitive data. To address this, we propose a privacy protection scheme that combines smart contracts (SCs), key-insulated technology, and certificateless anonymous signature (CLBS). This scheme aims to ensure data privacy during sharing and maintain user anonymity. By leveraging SCs, our scheme enables fair and automated key distribution, replacing traditional key generation centers. Key-insulated technology ensures that the signer’s key changes periodically, enhancing system stability. The security of our solution is validated through a random oracle model, and we have optimized an elliptic curve point to reduce signature length and minimize communication overhead. Our scheme outperforms other CLBS schemes in terms of computational and communication efficiency.
With the rapid development of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Real-World Assets (RWA), the importance of blockchain oracles in real-time data acquisition has become increasingly prominent. Using cryptographic techniques, threshold signature oracles can achieve consensus on data from multiple nodes and provide corresponding proofs to ensure the credibility and security of the information. However, in real-time data acquisition, threshold signature methods face challenges such as data inconsistency and low success rates in heterogeneous environments, which limit their practical application potential. To address these issues, this paper proposes an innovative dual-strategy approach to enhance the success rate of data consensus in blockchain threshold signature oracles. Firstly, we introduce a Representative Enhanced Aggregation Strategy (REP-AG) that improves the representativeness of data submitted by nodes, ensuring consistency with data from other nodes, and thereby enhancing the usability of threshold signatures. Additionally, we present a Timing Optimization Strategy (TIM-OPT) that dynamically adjusts the timing of nodes' access to data sources to maximize consensus success rates. Experimental results indicate that REP-AG improves the aggregation success rate by approximately 56.6\% compared to the optimal baseline, while the implementation of TIM-OPT leads to an average increase of approximately 32.9\% in consensus success rates across all scenarios.
Javier José Díaz Rivera, Ricard Vilalta, Raúl Muñoz, Pol Alemany · 5 authors
In complex network systems, multiple Software Defined Networking (SDN) controllers are often deployed across different domains to manage diverse underlay technologies. This multi-controller environment introduces significant challenges in ensuring security and trust, as traditional secure methods such as Public Key Infrastructures (PKI), which rely on Certificate Authorities (CAs), often struggle to provide the necessary flexibility, transparency, and protection against tampering. Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) present a compelling solution by enabling decentralized management and the immutable recording of network configurations. This paper proposes an approach where SDN controllers from various domains act as valida-tor nodes within a DLT framework, utilizing Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) as the consensus mechanism. This creates a distributed trust model that enhances collaborative network management by balancing trust among network controllers. By implementing a private, permissioned ledger, data integrity is enforced, and access is restricted to authorized stakeholders, thus maintaining consistency and trust among network configurations through a verifiable record of all transactions. The performance and operational efficiency of this DLT-based approach in multi-SDN controller environments are further evaluated. Experimental results demonstrate the practical benefits and viability of integrating DLT with SDN environments for collaborative network management.
Blockchain interoperability protocols enable cross-chain asset transfers or data retrievals between isolated chains, which are considered as the core infrastructure for Web 3.0 applications such as decentralized finance protocols. However, existing protocols either face severe scalability issues due to high on-chain and off-chain costs, or suffer from trust concerns because of centralized designs. In this paper, we propose \texttt{MAP}, a trustless blockchain interoperability protocol that relays cross-chain transactions across heterogeneous chains with high scalability. First, within \texttt{MAP}, we develop a novel \textit{cross-chain relay} technique, which integrates a unified relay chain architecture and on-chain light clients of different source chains, allowing the retrieval and verification of diverse cross-chain transactions. Furthermore, we reduce cross-chain verification costs by incorporating an optimized zk-based light client scheme that adaptively decouples signature verification overheads from inefficient smart contract execution and offloads them to off-chain provers. For experiments, we conducted the first large-scale evaluation on existing interoperability protocols. With \texttt{MAP}, the required number of on-chain light clients is reduced from $O(N^2)$ to $O(N)$, with around 35\% reduction in on-chain costs and 25\% reduction for off-chain costs when verifying cross-chain transactions. To demonstrate the effectiveness, we deployed \texttt{MAP} in the real world. By 2024, we have supported over six popular public chains, 50 cross-chain applications and relayed over 200K cross-chain transactions worth over 640 million USD. Based on rich practical experiences, we constructed the first real-world cross-chain dataset to further advance blockchain interoperability research.
The integration of blockchain technology into compliance auditing presents a transformative opportunity for enhancing Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) mechanisms within hybrid cloud IT governance frameworks. This review explores the potential of blockchain to address long-standing challenges in auditability, transparency, and trust across distributed and heterogeneous computing environments. By leveraging blockchain’s immutable ledger, smart contract automation, and decentralized consensus protocols, organizations can ensure real-time verification of compliance activities, secure audit trails, and enforceable policy adherence across cloud infrastructures. The paper critically evaluates existing literature on blockchain-enabled compliance auditing, identifies gaps in current GRC integration practices within hybrid cloud ecosystems, and discusses emerging frameworks that align regulatory compliance with dynamic IT operations. Key challenges such as interoperability, scalability, and regulatory acceptance are analyzed alongside opportunities for enhanced accountability, cross-border compliance, and audit automation. The review concludes by outlining future research directions, emphasizing the need for standardized blockchain-GRC interfaces, regulatory sandboxing, and industry-specific implementation models to fully realize the benefits of blockchain in hybrid cloud IT governance.
Under the rapid development of big data and cloud computing, emerging applications have seen significant improvements in efficiency and service quality. Nevertheless, the conflict between data sharing and privacy preservation remains a major obstacle to the advancement of big data technology. Addressing this issue, this study introduces a solution tailored to the big data environment, which achieves privacy protection and auditability in data sharing and processing. This approach separates data ownership, usage, and validation to mitigate privacy breaches and improper computing behaviors. Leveraging blockchain technology, a transparent governance platform is constructed to identify and track illegal data and computing activities. Furthermore, the solution integrates noninteractive zero-knowledge proofs for publicly verifying data consistency and computing validity on the blockchain. Experimental analysis on computational latency, communication costs, and encryption parameters confirms the feasibility and efficacy of this approach.
In distributed computing, data trading mechanisms are essential for ensuring the sharing of data across multiple computing nodes. Nevertheless, they currently encounter considerable obstacles, including low accuracy in matching trading parties, ensuring fairness in transactions, and safeguarding data privacy throughout the trading process. In order to address these issues, we put forward a data trading security scheme based on zero-knowledge proofs and smart contracts. In the phase of preparing the security parameters, the objective is to reduce the complexity of generating non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs and to enhance the efficiency of data trading. In the pre-trading phase, we devise attribute atomic matching smart contracts based on precise data property alignment, with the objective of achieving fine-grained matching of data attributes between trading parties. In the trading execution phase, lightweight cryptographic algorithms based on elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) and non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs are employed for the dual encryption of trading data and the generation of attribute proof contracts, thus ensuring the security and privacy of the data. The results of experiments conducted on the Ethereum platform in an industrial IoT scenario demonstrate that our scheme maintains stable and low-cost consumption while ensuring accuracy in matching and privacy protection.
Access control in large systems poses challenges in ensuring secure and flexible management of user privileges. Current approaches often rely on centralized servers, leading to concerns about data privacy and reliability. This study we study the benefits and overheads of integrating Blockchain technology and embedded devices for access control in large systems. We propose a Blockchain-based Non-Fungible Token (NFT) mechanism for access control of private data, leveraging the distributed and immutable nature of Blockchain to enhance security and scalability. This approach is versatile, applying to various access control scenarios. For instance, in Person-Device, where individuals are granted access to specific devices; Person-Data-Device, where individuals are given access to specific data on specific devices; and Person-Time-Device, where access is granted to individuals for specific periods to specific devices.In our study, we evaluated this approach using embedded devices such as ESP32 microcontrollers, Beaglebone Black boards, and Raspberry Pi. Our results show that a blockchain-based approach is suitable for resource-constrained devices, requiring minimal computational resources and introducing negligible delays. We find that our approach can be used to facilitate secure access to private data, ensuring confidentiality and integrity in a distributed setup without requiring any centralized control.
Gabriel Fernández-Blanco, Iván Froiz-Míguez, Paula Fraga‐Lamas, Tiago M. Fernández‐Caramés
The educational system manages extensive documentation and paperwork, which can lead to human errors and sometimes abuse or fraud, such as the falsification of diplomas, certificates or other credentials. In fact, in recent years, multiple cases of fraud have been detected, representing a significant cost to society, since fraud harms the trustworthiness of certificates and academic institutions. To tackle such an issue, this article proposes a solution aimed at recording and verifying academic records through a decentralized application that is supported by a smart contract deployed in the Ethereum blockchain and by a decentralized storage system based on Inter-Planetary File System (IPFS). The proposed solution is evaluated in terms of performance and energy efficiency, comparing the results obtained with a traditional Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus protocol and the new Proof-of-Authority (PoA) protocol. The results shown in this paper indicate that the latter is clearly greener and demands less CPU load. Moreover, this article compares the performance of a traditional computer and two Single-Board Computers (SBCs) (a Raspberry Pi 4 and an Orange Pi One), showing that is possible to make use of the latter low-power devices to implement blockchain nodes but at the cost of higher response latency. Furthermore, the impact of Ethereum gas limit is evaluated, demonstrating its significant influence on the blockchain network performance. Thus, this article provides guidelines, useful practical evaluations and key findings that will help the next generation of green blockchain developers and researchers.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have emerged as a pivotal digital asset, offering authenticated ownership of unique digital content. Despite it has gained remarkable traction, yet face pressing storage and verification challenges stemming from blockchain's permanent data costs. Existing off-chain or centralized storage solutions, while being alternatives, also introduce notable security vulnerabilities. We present SemNFT, an innovative decentralized framework integrated with blockchain oracle middleware services, addressing these persistent NFT dilemmas. Our approach compresses NFT source data into compact embeddings encapsulating semantic essence. These arrays are stored on-chain, while facilitating reliable decentralized image reconstruction and ownership verification. We implemented ERC721-compliant smart contracts with supplementary functionalities, demonstrating SemNFT's seamless integrative capabilities within the ecosystem. Extensive evaluations evidence marked storage optimizations and preservation of requisite visual fidelity by comparison with existing solutions. The proposed SemNFT framework marks a significant advancement in holistically confronting rising NFT storage and verification challenges without compromising decentralization. It substantively propels the meaningful evolution of NFT infrastructure to achieve digital asset immortality.
A. Jaya Mabel Rani, Samuthira Pandi, Beulah Jackson, K. Suresh Kumar · 6 authors
The integration of blockchain technology into various sectors has shown promise in enhancing security and data integrity, particularly in Internet of Things (IoT) systems. However, this amalgamation introduces challenges in data query efficiency and authenticity, especially in cloud-based settings. While blockchain offers operational streamlining and robust security, its inherent architecture involving distributed ledgers and consensus algorithms poses efficiency issues in data querying. This paper addresses the critical challenge of balancing query efficiency and data authenticity in Internet of Things (IoT)-based cloud systems. Existing solutions often lack scalability, real-time efficiency, and adaptability to the unique constraints of IoT environments. To overcome these limitations, this paper introduces the IoT-Verifiable Query Service (IoT-VQS), a scalable and secure architecture optimized for real-time data querying and verification in blockchains. This architecture demonstrates high throughput and verification accuracy, desirable for real-time cloud based applications.
In the last ten years-blockchain technology has changed a lot. It started as basic records shared across many computers and has become advanced networks that can do many things. Therefore, this study looks at how well blockchain systems can handle complex math problems for security. We focus on creating a system that puts timestamps on events. This method combines Schnorr signatures and Pedersen commitments. We use the Ethereum network to store and check data. The system uses a smart contract to manage data and connect servers and clients. Servers put timestamps on events and clients send data to be timestamped and checked. This setup makes sure they are clear and reliable. However, the study tests how well the system works by looking at cost-how much memory it uses and how fast it runs. The study also talks about using Ethereum. Ethereum lets everyone see timestamps and what happen-which is good for trust. But it can't keep secrets-so it's not good for private data. This study shows that blockchain is useful for more than just money. It can make sure events are real and safe. By mixing math ideas in blockchain-the study shows how to make data safer and more reliable in many places.
Puneeta Singh, Shrddha Sagar, Sofia Singh, Haya Mesfer Alshahrani · 6 authors
The Crucial and costly process of verifying medical documents frequently depends on centralized databases. Nevertheless, manual validation of document verification wastes a great deal of time and energy. The application of Blockchain technology could potentially alleviate the problem by reducing fraud and increasing efficiency. Non-transferable Soul-bound tokens (SBTs) can be a safe and unbreakable way to authenticate medical records by generating encrypted code, which allows the user to authenticate a portion of data. Within the paper, we provide a blockchain-based SBT-based automatic mechanism for authentication and verification of records. Soul-bound tokens generate a decentralized, immutable identity or credential system that is tied to a record. Through cloud computing, the system can reduce the verification time by accessing a decentralized database. Blockchain systems can lower platform costs and determine the optimal allocation of resources across a dispersed network by utilizing deep learning algorithms. Two advantages of utilizing blockchain technology are less fraud and increased efficiency. SBTs and cloud computing enable the procedure to be expedited and decentralized databases to be readily available. The suggested system's scalability and potential uses in other industries may be the subject of future research.
Vaishnavi Moorthy, Karthikeyan Saravanan, B Hariviyaas, S. Shakthi Saravanan · 5 authors
The growing digitization of medical information has raised the possibility of medical records being stolen or manipulated in addition to their convenience. To overcome this, our work suggests a cutting-edge EHR sharing system that uses Blockchain and decentralized storage to safely and conveniently store and exchange medical records. Our work required curating patients’ medical records to test and validate our system's working. Data from sources like MIMIC-III are considered to curate and populate the EHRs with all possible types of medical data. Our proposed EHR system is built on top of the Ethereum Blockchain, with IPFS for decentralized storage of the EHR, and MetaMask for facilitating transactions securely. IPFS system stores content using a content addressable mechanism by default, allowing anyone with a file’s CID to access it. To secure EHRs on the IPFS network, we encrypt EHRs using the Lit protocol before being stored in the IPFS network. It allows authorized users to retrieve the EHRs and decrypt them without introducing additional latency to the blockchain system. Additionally, we have implemented an OTP mechanism to authenticate a patient's access to the patient portal before accessing the EHRs for added security. The patient has the sole authority to grant and revoke access to their EHRs to a doctor. The implementation proves good for the secured sharing of EHR with less overheads.