The advancement of 6G wireless communication technology has facilitated the integration of Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs). However, the messages transmitted over the public channel in the open and dynamic VANETs are vulnerable to malicious attacks. Although numerous researchers have proposed authentication schemes to enhance the security of Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication, most existing methodologies face two significant challenges: (1) the majority of the schemes are not lightweight enough to support real-time message interaction among vehicles; (2) the sensitive information like identity and position is at risk of being compromised. To tackle these issues, we propose a lightweight dual authentication protocol for V2V communication based on Physical Unclonable Function (PUF). The proposed scheme accomplishes dual authentication between vehicles by the combination of Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) and MASK function. The security analysis proves that our scheme provides both anonymous authentication and information unlinkability. Additionally, the performance analysis demonstrates that the computation overhead of our scheme is approximately reduced 23.4% compared to the state-of-the-art schemes. The practical simulation conducted in a 6G network environment demonstrates the feasibility of 6G-based VANETs and their potential for future advancements.
Khushi M Appannavar, Ananya Deshpande, Risheek V Hiremath, Sanjana Kurkuri · 5 authors
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a widely popular cricket league hosted in India, known for its high-energy matches and star-studded players. Previously, getting IPL match tickets required long lines and physical visits to counters. With the advent of online platforms, fans can now easily purchase tickets through the official IPL website, making the ticketing process more convenient and accessible. However, the IPL ticketing system still faces significant challenges, including counterfeit tickets and scalping, which undermine the authenticity and integrity of the booking process. To address these issues, the study proposes a solution by integrating blockchain technology, particularly through NonFungible Tokens (NFTs), into the IPL ticket booking platform. The system utilizes the Ethereum blockchain to ensure the uniqueness, verifiability and transferability of IPL tickets. By leveraging smart contracts, organizers can create and manage unique NFTs for each ticket, preventing counterfeiting and ensuring a reliable record of transactions. A decentralized approach allows organizers, vendors and fans to interact directly with the blockchain, enhancing security and transparency. The system is designed to be efficient, with automated ticket issuance and transfer facilitated by smart contracts. Additionally, it promotes responsible and sustainable practices by reducing the need for physical tickets and encouraging digital event management. The following research contributes to the understanding of how blockchain and NFTs can transform the ticketing industry, fostering a more sustainable future.
This paper introduces an innovative secure element token, which supports three communication interfaces, USB, WiFi, and Bluetooth. The token is built with a system on chip (SoC) module including FLASH memory, and a secure element (javacard) with a mini SIM form factor. The secure element is managed via ISO7816 five wires interface, thanks to an original library. We present use cases for each communication interface. Serial USB is used to upload software in the SoC, and thereafter to download javacard application in secure element according to Global Platform (GP) protocols. Wi-Fi enables internet access to secure element thanks to TLS1.3 server running within secure element. Bluetooth allows interactions with mobile applications, such as Bluetooth terminal, which use the SoC to build Ethereum transactions signed by secure element.
several industrial sectors including healthcare supply chain operations. The private sector works differently because blockchain technology brings better security as well as elevated accountability and enhanced transparency. The study investigates blockchain implementation in supply chains together with healthcare operations by showing its ability to track goods precisely while reducing theft and accelerating data movement. Independent research trials prove blockchain technology enhances key operational features through better medical data management and insurance claim processing and pharmaceutical supply chain monitoring. Our team observed major performance value increases through blockchain adoption which lowered patient record retrieval times by 40% in healthcare settings. The implementation of blockchain technology led to a service delivery enhancement together with a 50% reduction of administrative expenses which shortened insurance claim processing times. Blockchains reduce fraudulent pharmaceutical products by 30% thus helping the pharmaceutical industry protect both patient safety and product integrity. Through blockchain-enabled supply chain traceability operators detect and react swiftly to tainted products which decreases health hazards affecting the public. These important additions prove vital for industries focused on security because of their need for openness. The research confirms blockchain's ability to improve supply chain management through reduction of risks and increased transparency and better operational integrity and security for healthcare systems. Supply chain managers alongside healthcare providers can cut expenses while delivering faster services to patients through improved security and efficiency of their systems which results in enhanced customer protection. Supply chain operations together with the healthcare sector will operate more efficiently in a secure fiscal manner.
Robert G. Werner, Dominique Briechle, Marit Elke Anke Mathiszig
Currently, the ad hoc, one-way distribution of pharmaceuticals from pharmacies to their customers is inefficient and high in emissions. The HitchhikeBox concept aims to improve the current logistics system by utilizing existing transport channels. This eliminates the need for single-purpose delivery trips and personnel. The system is open to competing service providers, with fully automated contract management, payment and sanctioning of the parties involved. The system utilizes asymmetric encryption and zero-knowledge proofs to guarantee user privacy and non-traceability of deliveries for contracts, payments, and sensor data. The system is designed to be resilient, self-governing and suitable for highly sensitive goods, such as the transport of pharmaceuticals, by ensuring their optimal condition. In addition, the system utilizes smart contracts to conclude and enforce contracts, as well as a distributed off-chain cluster to process and store data in a GDPR-compliant manner. The HitchhikeBox concept facilitates semi-automated, cost-effective and eco-friendly logistics while maintaining reliability, privacy and liability.
Nodes in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) are limited battery powered. That’s why energy efficient routing has become an important optimization criterion in MANETs. The conventional routing protocols do not consider energy of the nodes while selecting routes which leads to early exhaustion of nodes and partitioning of the network. This paper attempts to provide an energy aware routing algorithm. The proposed algorithm finds the transmission energy between the nodes relative to the distance and the performance of the algorithm is analyzed between two metrics Total Transmission energy of a route and Maximum Number of Hops. The proposed algorithm shows efficient energy utilization and increased network lifetime with total transmission energy metric.
With the deepening exploration of Industry 4.0, smart factories are gradually replacing traditional factories with rapid momentum. In smart factories, a large number of digitally networked devices are deployed in a less-populated or even unmanned environment. Data security and fast access have become particularly important due to the automation and intelligence of production. As the environment of smart factories becomes increasingly complex, meeting the requirements for rapid authentication has become increasingly difficult for traditional authentication systems. In this study, a lightweight blockchain-based radio-frequency identification (RFID) identity authentication mechanism is proposed for smart factories represented by the medical device manufacturing industry by integrating blockchain and RFID technologies. Through bitwise operations, cyclic shift operation, and hash arithmetic, the proposed mechanism cannot only guarantee security between the RFID reader and the electronic tag but also requires less communication and storage to complete authentication. Thus, this mechanism is suitable for the environment of medical device manufacturing factories with a high-load operation of equipment. It helps further research on the data security of smart factories.
RFID technology advancements
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) promotes the fundamental tracking procedure of the Internet of Things (IoT) network due to its autonomous data collection as well as transfer incurring low costs. To overcome the insecure exchange of tracking data and to prevent unauthorized access, parallel dependency RFID grouping-proof protocol is applied by the reader to authenticate tags simultaneously. However, conventional grouping-proof authentication schemes are not sufficient for the memory constraint RFID tags due to the recurrent utilization of a 128-bit PRNG (Pseudo Random Number Generator) function. Alternatively, the existing parallel-dependency grouping-proof schemes are not able to overcome numerous limitations regarding session establishment, efficient key management, and multicast message communication within the specified group. In this research, a lightweight, secure, and efficient communication protocol is proposed to overcome the aforementioned limitations using Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) and Zero-Knowledge property to establish a session key among the participated tags, reader, and remote server. The proposed scheme can work in offline mode. The proposed ECC-based parallel dependency grouping-proof scheme is referred to as ECC-PDGPP which abides by the rules of the EPC class-1 gen-2 (C1 G2) standard of RFID tags. Finally, the proposed protocol is analyzed using a formal random oracle model and simulated using a well-known AVISPA simulation tool that shows the proposed scheme is well protected against all potential security threats.
Ángel Niebla-Montero, Iván Froiz-Míguez, José Varela-Barbeito, Paula Fraga‐Lamas · 5 authors
Security presents significant challenges due to the exponential growth in the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices that generate and collect data over the network. It is crucial to ensure the integrity and security of IoT devices, as well as to address issues such as interoperability and trust in data sources. In the proposed article, we present a novel architecture together with its implementation as a proof-of-concept of a traceability and auditing IoT system based on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed solution, a smart contract-based system for occupational risk prevention (ORP) has been developed to monitor oxygen concentration in confined spaces that exist in ships and shipyards. The system has been devised for the operators that weld inside the ships of the Spanish shipbuilding company Navantia, which is one of the largest shipbuilders in the world. Specifically, the IOTA network has been used, which benefits the system through its decentralized, secure, and scalable data structure. In addition, the integration of smart contracts allows for establishing predefined rules and conditions, ensuring the execution of logic in a reliable and automated manner. To demonstrate the viability of the system, it has been tested locally and in the IOTA testing environment. Despite the challenges in deploying smart contracts with IOTA, the developed system is considered useful for the traceability and auditing of the oxygen concentrations without the need for any human intervention. Furthermore, it establishes the groundwork for future advancements in IoT traceability and auditing in industrial ORP scenarios.
The article deals with the topic of trust architecture in apparel supply chains in the context of the transition to WEB3 protocols. The authors analyze the possibilities of blockchain technologies and decentralized systems to improve management and interaction processes, increase transparency and traceability of goods, reduce costs and risks. Special attention is given to the creation of a trustworthy environment for all participants in the supply chain through a trust architecture.
As electric vehicles become more popular, battery swap stations are gaining attention as a new type of charging facility. However, the charging process for electric vehicles involves privacy information such as user location and charging mode, which can be easily stolen or leaked, posing security risks and personal privacy concerns for users. Therefore, protecting the privacy of electric vehicle battery swap station users has become an important issue. This paper aims to study a privacy protection system for electric vehicle battery swap stations using blockchain technology. First, the basic principles and application scenarios of blockchain technology are introduced. Second, potential privacy leaks in electric vehicle battery swap stations are analysed, and a privacy protection scheme based on blockchain is proposed, including anonymous identity authentication, zero-knowledge proof, and encrypted communication. Third, a blockchain-based privacy protection system for electric vehicle battery swap stations is designed and implemented, and its performance is experimentally evaluated and compared with traditional privacy protection schemes in terms of security and efficiency. This paper demonstrates that the blockchain-based privacy protection scheme for electric vehicle battery swap stations possesses high levels of security and reliability, effectively safeguarding users' privacy information. Furthermore, this scheme exhibits promising application prospects and potential for widespread adoption. With the continuous development and utilization of blockchain technology, the privacy protection scheme for electric vehicle battery swap stations using blockchain is expected to provide users with more secure, reliable, and convenient charging services.
Electric vehicles (EVs) have gained significant attention due to their environmental and energy-efficient benefits. Dynamic Wireless Charging (DWC) has emerged as one of the most promising EV charging methods because it overcomes the challenges associated with traditional charging stations. However, as EVs keep moving while charging, this requires specific authentication and payment methods, enabling EV mobility privacy and ensuring fair billing. To address these concerns, we propose in this paper a smart contract based solution to deal with privacy and fair billing for EVs dynamic wireless charging. The proposed solution includes a lightweight authentication mechanism enabling a continuous authenticate-and-charge process when EV is moving on the road.
Nowadays, creating a blockchain-based system for supply chain tracing is a complex task. This paper defines a model, a graphical domain specific language, and a set of tools aimed at helping supply chain domain experts to create blockchain based tracing systems for their supply chains. Starting from a graphical representation of the supply chain, the solidity smart contracts implementing the related tracing system are automatically generated by our framework. Small interventions of programmers are required to customize and finalize such smart contracts. A set of web based interfaces to interact with such smart contracts are also automatically generated. We are confident that our results will increase blockchain usage for supply chain traceability thanks to the automatic process of smart contract generation.
This thesis aims to provide new insights into the use of recent advances in non-fungible token (NFT) and Soulbound technology, which are becoming increasingly important in the blockchain context. Specifically, it discusses how these technologies can enable a renewed and strengthened role for the Internet of Everything concept in the complex processes of Industry 5.0, where social, societal, and technical dimensions merge in an irreducible application context. In this context, the concept of reputation and trust becomes crucial, which is closely related to another broader concept: cybersecurity, an ever-present topic. Not to mention another important aspect: privacy, another hot topic. Blockchain technologies, or more generally, DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology), represent valid tools for achieving certain objectives closely tied to these concepts, which become even more crucial in a supply chain.The use of these technologies can improve reputation and trust within a supply chain. Blockchains can provide greater transparency and traceability of information, allowing consumers to better understand the provenance of the products they purchase. This can increase consumer trust in the food supply chain and enhance the reputation of the companies involved. Indeed, the reputation and trust of these actors can also be tracked and automated, making the entire process more reliable, secure, and dynamic. The potential of this approach is illustrated through a simple yet significant industrial case study project on the food supply chain, currently being researched as part of a European collaborative research effort.
Raúl Casanova-Marqués, Joaquín Torres-Sospedra, Jan Hajný, Michael K. Gould
The increasing popularity of wearable-based Collaborative Indoor Positioning Systems (CIPSs) has led to the development of new methods for improving positioning accuracy. However, these systems often rely on protocols, such as iBeacon, that lack sufficient privacy protection. In addition, they depend on centralized entities for the authentication and verification processes. To address the limitations of existing protocols, this paper presents a groundbreaking contribution to the field of wearable-based CIPSs. We propose a decentralized Attribute-based Authentication (ABA) protocol that offers superior levels of privacy protection, untraceability, and unlinkability of user actions. Unlike existing protocols that rely on centralized entities, our approach leverages decentralized mechanisms for authentication and verification, ensuring the privacy of user location data exchange. Through extensive experimentation across multiple platforms, our results demonstrate the practicality and feasibility of the proposed protocol for real-world deployment. Overall, this work opens up new avenues for secure and privacy-preserving wearable-based CIPSs, with potential implications for the rapidly growing field of Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
Dr. P. N. Fale, Payal Dahe, Namita Shendre, Priyanshu Khadaskar · 6 authors
Fake products create a huge negative impact in the market for both buyers and sellers. The sellers fails to deliver the product as per the consumers expectations and the consumers starts to doubt the quality and standards of the company which ultimately results in the negative marketing of the brand whose fake products are being circulated in the market. The most critical part about counterfeit products is that it can be harmful for the consumers. Since, the fake or counterfeit products are not restricted to any particular sector in the market therefore it has become important for us to detect these products and find a way to keep them out of the market. These products can be dangerous if we consider very dominating sectors of market like pharmaceutical and food supplies. To tackle such problems, we need to maintain a data, which is easily accessible to consumers where they can verify the details about the products and build a level of trust regarding the product authenticity. As we all know that no product is safe from counterfeiting due to the continuous growth in counterfeit products in the supply chain. It is degrading company's name and their profit; it also affects the customer, for example if this counterfeiting is done in pharmaceutical field, then it will directly affect the customer's health. To counter this problem, the research work has been proposed but not perfected. In this proposed approach, we will be using Blockchain technology to find genuineness of the product. Blockchain technology is generally a ledger system, which holds all the data of the transactions that take place on it. The unique thing about this technology is that the ledger that we mentioned here is a distributed ledger across a peer-to-peer network. Also, we propose a system where we store product's detail and its ownership status on architecture provided by Ethereum. We will be using QR code, which will be scanned by customer such that he/she will be able to find out the details of the product as manufacturing details, current owner etc. and will be able to determine whether the product is fake or real.
Jing Huey Khor, Michail Sidorov, Seri Aathira Balqis Zulqarnain
Scalability prevents public blockchains from being widely adopted for Internet of Things (IoT) applications such as supply chain management. Several existing solutions focus on increasing the transaction count, but none of them address scalability challenges introduced by resource-constrained IoT device integration with these blockchains, especially for the purpose of supply chain ownership management. Thus, this paper solves the issue by proposing a scalable public blockchain-based protocol for the interoperable ownership transfer of tagged goods, suitable for use with resource-constrained IoT devices such as widely used Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. The use of a public blockchain is crucial for the proposed solution as it is essential to enable transparent ownership data transfer, guarantee data integrity, and provide on-chain data required for the protocol. A decentralized web application developed using the Ethereum blockchain and an InterPlanetary File System is used to prove the validity of the proposed lightweight protocol. A detailed security analysis is conducted to verify that the proposed lightweight protocol is secure from key disclosure, replay, man-in-the-middle, de-synchronization, and tracking attacks. The proposed scalable protocol is proven to support secure data transfer among resource-constrained RFID tags while being cost-effective at the same time.
Despite the widespread use of radio frequency identification and wireless connectivity such as near field communication in electric vehicles, their security and privacy implications in Ad-Hoc networks have not been well explored. This article provides a data protection assessment of radio frequency electronic system in the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). It is demonstrated that eavesdropping is completely feasible from a passing car, at an approximate distance up to 50 m. Furthermore, our reverse analysis shows that the staticn-bit signatures and messaging can be eavesdropped from a relatively far distance, raising privacy concerns as a vehicles’ movements can be tracked by using the unique IDs of tire pressure sensors. Unfortunately, current protocols do not use authentication, and automobile technologies hardly follow routine message confirmation so sensor messages may be spoofed remotely. To improve the security of TPMS, we suggest a novel ultralightweight mutual authentication for the TPMS registry process in the automotive network. Our experimental results confirm the effectiveness and security of the proposed method in TPMS.
For the past few years, as the demand for food has increased due to population, Food security has emerged as a major issue, because many intermediaries alter products to gain profits which in turn degrades the quality of the product and affects the health of the population. The current agricultural food supply chains have a number of significant issues, including plenty of participants, poor communication driven by lengthy supply chains, distrust between members, and centralized systems. Developing a traceability system for the agricultural food supply chain becomes more and more important as traditional agri-food logistics patterns can no longer meet market needs. We can build a system that keeps track of the product quality and other factors throughout the supply chain by using Blockchain technology along with various other technologies like sensors which are used to gather data from the growing stages of the product, IPFS which stores this data securely at one place and the entire data can be accessed by the consumer through RFID tags. This data can be accessed by the consumer who can verify the quality of the product. This can help maintain trust in the supply chain. In this paper, we have summarized a few previous related research and proposed a system for traceability in the agricultural supply chain.