We present a novel approach to privacy preserving electronic road pricing (ERP) based on on-board units (OBUs) and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), and without any need for tamper-proof elements. Since our approach issoftware-onlyandprotocol-enforced, it can be rapidly deployed on off-the-shelve or even pre-existing hardware, such as a smartphone or the on-board computer of a car. In addition, communication complexity is onlylogarithmicin function of route length, such that even for short routes the communication cost of the protocol is lower than the cost of naively transmitting the clear text route. Our implementation proves the construction to be computationally practical, especially for the verifier. Since the scheme is based on ZKPs, no unnecessary information gets leaked. At the basis of the scheme lies Bulletproofs, which is modified to provide native support for Pedersen vector commitments with logarithmic impact on proof size.
Attribute-based anonymous credentials offer users fine-grained access control in a privacy-preserving manner. However, in such schemes obtaining a user's credentials requires knowledge of the issuer's public key, which obviously reveals the issuer's identity that must be hidden from users in certain scenarios. Moreover, verifying a user's credentials also requires the knowledge of issuer's public key, which may infer the user's private information from their choice of issuer. In this paper, we introduce the notion of double issuer-hiding attribute-based credentials (${\sf DIHAC}$) to tackle these two problems. In our model, a central authority can issue public-key credentials for a group of issuers, and users can obtain attribute-based credentials from one of the issuers without knowing which one it is. Then, a user can prove that their credential was issued by one of the authenticated issuers without revealing which one to a verifier. We provide a generic construction, as well as a concrete instantiation for${\sf DIHAC}$based on structure-preserving signatures on equivalence classes (JOC's 19) and a novel primitive which we calltag-based aggregatable mercurial signatures. Our construction is efficient without relying on zero-knowledge proofs. We provide rigorous evaluations on personal laptop and smartphone platforms, respectively, to demonstrate its practicability.
Joseph Bamidele Awotunde, Tarek Gaber, L V Narasimha Prasad, Sakinat Oluwabukonla Folorunso · 5 authors
The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) accelerated the implementation of various smart city applications and initiatives. The rapid adoption of IoT-powered smart cities is faced by a number of security and privacy challenges that hindered their application in areas such as critical infrastructure. One of the most crucial elements of any smart city is safety. Without the right safeguards, bad actors can quickly exploit weak systems to access networks or sensitive data. Security issues are a big worry for smart cities in addition to safety issues. Smart cities become easy targets for attackers attempting to steal data or disrupt services if they are not adequately protected against cyberthreats like malware or distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Therefore, in order to safeguard their systems from potential threats, businesses must employ strong security protocols including encryption, authentication, and access control measures. In order to ensure that their network traffic remains secure, organizations should implement powerful network firewalls and intrusion detection systems (IDS). This article proposes a blockchain-supported hybrid Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) with Kernel Principal Component Analysis (KPCA) to provide privacy and security for smart city users and systems. Blockchain is used to provide trust, and CNN enabled with KPCA is used for classifying threats. The proposed solution comprises three steps, preprocessing, feature selection, and classification. The standard features of the datasets used are converted to a numeric format during the preprocessing stage, and the result is sent to KPCA for feature extraction. Feature extraction reduces the dimensionality of relevant features before it passes the resulting dataset to the CNN to classify and detect malicious activities. Two prominent datasets namely ToN-IoT and BoT-IoT were used to measure the performance of this anticipated method compared to its best rivals in the literature. Experimental evaluation results show an improved performance in terms of threat prediction accuracy, and hence, increased security, privacy, and maintainability of IoT-enabled smart cities.
The ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms dominate the auditing market, auditing almost all the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 companies. This leads to people having to accept auditing results even if they may be poor quality and/or for inadequate purposes. In addition, accountants may provide different auditing results with the same financial data. These issues are hard for regulators such as the Financial Reporting Council to identify because of insufficient resources or inconsistent compliance. In this paper, we proposed a triple-entry accounting protocol to allow users to report Bitcoin transactions to a third-party auditor to comply with regulations such as the travel rule. It allows the auditor to easily detect anomalies and identify the non-compliant parties, whilst the blockchain itself provides a transparent and immutable record of these anomalies. Despite building on a public ledger, our solution preserves privacy and offers an interoperability layer for information exchange. Merkle proofs were used to record non-compliant transactions whilst allowing compliant transactions to be pruned from an auditor’s active database.
Cryptocurrency exchange platforms such as Coinbase, enable users to purchase and sell cryptocurrencies conveniently just like trading stocks/commodities.However, because of the nature of blockchain, when a user withdraws coins (i.e., transfers coins to an external on-chain account), all future transactions can be learned by the platform.This is in sharp contrast to conventional stock exchange where all external activities of users are always hidden from the platform.Since the platform knows highly sensitive user private information such as passport number, bank information etc, linking all (on-chain) transactions raises a serious privacy concern about the potential disastrous data breach in those cryptocurrency exchange platforms.In this paper, we propose a cryptocurrency exchange that restores user anonymity for the first time.To our surprise, the seemingly well-studied privacy/anonymity problem has several new challenges in this setting.Since the public blockchain and internal transaction activities naturally provide many non-trivial leakages to the platform, internal privacy is not only useful in the usual sense but also becomes necessary for regaining the basic anonymity of user transactions.We also ensure that the user cannot double spend, and the user has to properly report accumulated profit for tax purposes, even in the private setting.We give a careful modeling and efficient construction of the system that achieves constant computation and communication overhead (with only simple cryptographic tools and rigorous security analysis); we also implement our system and evaluate its practical performance.We would like to design a cryptocurrency exchange system that could at least restore the user's anonymity/privacy so that it is unlinkable between external transaction records and the user's real identity.
Blockchain technologies deliver an endless variety of applications that benefit from distributed economies. The proposed model is an Android application that has enhanced security features, which include both authentication and authorization. Authentication is incorporated by using a unique identification and authorization is done by using a fingerprint. Voters are also being verified by time password. The security in this project is implemented by using a 128-bit AES encryption algorithm and SHA-256 along with the blockchain. The vote is cast in the form of a transaction, where a blockchain is created, which keeps track of the tallies of votes. Through this, atomicity and integrity are maintained This blockchain-based voting system that satisfies the legal requirements of legislators has been a challenge for a long time. Distributed ledger technologies are an exciting technological advancement in the information technology world Blockchain technologies offer an infinite range of applications, benefiting from sharing economies. This project aims to evaluate the application of blockchain as a service to implement distributed electronic voting systems. The project elicits the requirements for building electronic voting systems and identifies the legal and technological limitations of using blockchain as a service for realizing such systems.
Biegon Kipkoech Collins, Alex Kibet, Andrew M. Kahonge
Amidst rapid technological advancement and digital transformation, ensuring privacy and data security is paramount. Governments and digital service providers face the challenge of establishing secure identification systems that protect individuals' personal information while enabling reliable authentication and seamless user experiences. Traditional identification methods often require individuals to disclose sensitive personal information, leading to privacy risks and potential data breaches. Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) have emerged as a promising solution to address these concerns. By leveraging ZKPs, individuals can authenticate their identities or assert specific attributes without revealing sensitive data. This approach holds great potential for preserving privacy while enabling efficient and trustworthy verification processes. This paper explored ZKPs and how governments and digital service providers can utilize this technology to achieve secure identification while upholding privacy. A key focus was prototyping a secure identification protocol using ZKPs. Through practical implementation, this research aimed to demonstrate the reliability and effectiveness of ZKPs in real-world scenarios. Keywords : zero-knowledge proofs, privacy, digital identity, governments, digital services. DOI: 10.7176/ISDE/13-2-06 Publication date: September 30 th 2023
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Carlos Ortega-Laurel
In this work a guide is proposed, introducing the idea of alternative implementation of blockchain technology to the popularized use as a currency. As an axis of the guide, the use and support of non-fungible token technology (NFT) for the Public Property Registry (RPP) is presented, as an example, which allows us to conceive the different technological and non-technological aspects that the use of this technology would involve in contexts such as the one explained. The research of the technological fund, the institutional-legal fund, and the techno-institutional-legal is exposed, this to holistically foresee the implications that would have the use of the registry transactions of the RPP through a blockchain supported by NFT tokens. Subsequently, and based on the set of variables, the interdisciplinary research problem is externalized, while summarizing the proposal and discussing its derivations and findings. Finally, it concludes by giving an account of the main challenges and guidelines in which any organization or institution with characteristics analogous to the RPP that seeks a digital transformation and innovation in the near future will have to work.
This chapter explores the potential of the novel Web 3 phenomenon – decentralized social networks – to address the growing concerns over privacy, censorship, and user control on centralized social media platforms. Offering an alternative to traditional social media, decentralized social platforms utilize distributed ledger technologies like blockchain where data is stored on multiple nodes and controlled by the users, rather than a central authority. Such systems are designed to enable trust and transparency in online interactions, provide the ability to communicate without censorship or interference, and empower users with greater control over their personal data. This chapter discusses the benefits and challenges of blockchain-based social networks, as well as existing initiatives working towards a more decentralized, democratic, and user-centric model of social networking.
The real industry is crucial sector of the world wide financial system, with significant economic, social and environmental implications. However, real estate transactions are often slow, complex and costly and can be prone to fraud errors, which can lead to significant financial losses and legal disputes. This paper proposes the adoption of blockchain technology in real estate cadastral systems as a solution to the challenges encountered in managing property ownership and transactions. We have described the implementation of our prototype called REMS (Real Estate Management System) and we have presented the deployment of smart contracts in Ethereum platform. Based on measurement, benchmarks and other observation of the system, we have evaluated the server usage of the blockchain network and decided whether Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) should be involved or not in our system. The study results demonstrate the successful implementation of a real estate management system (REMS) using blockchain technology and Ethereum's smart contracts. This study is important because it confirms that similar solutions can be implemented in other areas of public administration, where the structure of the work is similar, i.e. where we deal with issuing documents to citizens.
Putra Roskhairul Fitri Bin Kaha, Syarifah Bahiyah Rahayu, Andrianto Arfan Wardhana, Moon-Gul Lee · 6 authors
With the increasing demand for secure, trustworthy, and transparent voting systems, electronic voting (e-voting) has emerged as a promising solution to address the shortcomings of traditional methods. However, traditional e-voting systems face numerous challenges in ensuring integrity, privacy, and auditability such as paper-based ballots and electronic voting machines. These traditional systems are susceptible to issues such as voter fraud, coercion, and a lack of transparency, undermining the democratic process. This paper proposes a novel approach to designing an e-voting framework using blockchain technology. By leveraging the distributed ledger and consensus mechanisms of blockchain, our framework aims to provide a secure, transparent, and tamper-resistant voting system. These features enable the creation of a secure and transparent voting system that ensures the integrity of votes, protects voter privacy, and enables verifiability and auditability of the entire voting process. The paper presents the key components, design considerations, and benefits of the proposed framework, along with an analysis of its potential challenges and future directions for research and development. The system architecture of the proposed framework establishes communication channels, data flows, and interfaces that facilitate voters' attendance, secure interactions and information exchange within the voting system. The use of smart contracts helps enforce the rules and conditions of the voting process on the blockchain, ensuring the accuracy and fairness of the electoral outcome. In conclusion, the proposed e-voting framework using blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize the electoral process by providing a secure, transparent, and tamper-resistant voting system. By addressing the challenges of traditional e-voting systems and leveraging the inherent features of blockchain technology, we can enhance the integrity, privacy, and trustworthiness of the voting process.
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Abstract SDN revolutionises network management by providing a centralised controller that enables flexible and effortless configuration of networks. However, this flexibility also leads to a vulnerability that enables the adversary to trick the security system into allowing the installation of unauthorised flow rules in the switches. Blockchain provides us with a way to protect against malicious tampering with flow rules by storing them in the distributed ledger. In this work, we propose FTISCON, a mechanism to preserve the integrity of the OpenFlow flow table that utilizes blockchain technology. We employ the Ethereum Private Blockchain to implement the proof-of-concept and conduct a comparative analysis of the proposed scheme and existing related schemes, evaluating their performance in terms of delay, computation time, transaction cost, and detection rate. The proposed work is found to perform better in each of these. The study results suggest that the proposed approach offers a practical and efficient remedy to prevent flow modification attacks within SDN networks.
Aiming to safeguard a decentralized setup such as smart cities, collaborative intrusion detection system (CIDS) has become a mainstream security mechanism to protect different types of computer networks, especially decentralized computing platforms such as Internet of Things (IoT). The main benefit of CIDS relies on the information sharing process among devices, nodes, software and hardware entities. However, traditional CIDS often requires a trusted third partner, e.g., a centralized computing server, to help build up a trusted communication channel among various entities. Such requirement is not practical in real-world implementation, making the integrity of shared information compromised easily. With the wide adoption, blockchain technology has given a solution to protect the distributed/collaborative detection system. In the current market, blockchain technology has been extensively researched across many detection scenarios, but there is a need to explore how such technology can overall contribute to CIDS and a general distributed detection system. In this work, we introduce a blockchain-assisted security management framework for CIDS, which summarizes and provides an integrated protection given by blockchain. In the case study , we evaluate our proposed framework in both a simulated and a real CIDS setup with challenge-based mechanism. The results demonstrate the promising benefits provided by blockchain in CIDS.
Mark C. Ballandies, Hongyang Wang, Andrew Chung Chee Law, Joshua C. Yang · 6 authors
As digitalization and technological advancements continue to shape the infrastructure landscape, the emergence of blockchain-based decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs) has gained prominence. However, a systematic categorization of DePIN components and their interrelationships is still missing. To address this gap, we conduct a literature review and analysis of existing frameworks and derived a taxonomy of DePIN systems from a conceptual architecture. Our taxonomy encompasses three key dimensions: distributed ledger technology, cryptoeconomic design and physicial infrastructure network. Within each dimension, we identify and define relevant components and attributes, establishing a clear hierarchical structure. Moreover, we illustrate the relationships and dependencies among the identified components, highlighting the interplay between governance models, hardware architectures, networking protocols, token mechanisms, and distributed ledger technologies. This taxonomy provides a foundation for understanding and classifying diverse DePIN networks, serving as a basis for future research and facilitating knowledge exchange, fostering collaboration and standardization within the emerging field of decentralized physical infrastructure networks.
The Internet of Things (IoT) has become a game-changing technology, bridging the gap between the real and virtual worlds and allowing for smooth data transfer and communication between linked objects. The other two potential technologies are blockchain (BC) and artificial intelligence (AI), whose application areas are incredibly diverse and which may perform best when combined. Since some traditional machine learning (ML) techniques have limitations, this article proposed using distributed machine learning techniques such as federated learning and blockchain to build a more reliable and secure IoT network that will be better protected and less susceptible to outside intrusions. As an alternative to centralized cloud storage, we also recommended using decentralized data storage techniques like the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) and Hyperledger Fabric (HLF). Additionally, as a proof of concept, we deployed our model using Ethereum Smart Contracts (SC). Using the well-known cybersecurity dataset known as Edge-IIoTset, we utilized both centralized and federated machine learning models to evaluate the efficiency of the suggested approach. The experimental results and successful deployment of Smart Contracts demonstrate that employing Blockchain and distributed storage systems is preferable for safeguarding IoT networks.
Abhay Pratap Singh, A. Sri Ganesh, Rutuja Rajendra Patil, Sumit Kumar · 6 authors
Voting is a democratic process that allows individuals to choose their leaders and voice their opinions. However, the current situation with physical voting involves long queues, paper-based ballots, and security challenges. Blockchain-based voting models have appeared as a method to address the limitations of traditional voting methods. As blockchain is distributed and decentralized, which uses hash functions for securing transactions, it dramatically improves the existing voting system. These digital platforms eliminate the need for physical presence, reduce paperwork, and ensure the integrity of votes through transparent and tamper-proof blockchain technology. This paper introduces a blockchain-based voting model to enhance accessibility, security, and efficiency in the voting process. The research focuses on developing a robust and user-friendly voting system by leveraging the advantages of decentralized technology. The proposed model employs Ethereum as the underlying blockchain platform through an innovative and iterative approach. The model uses Smart contracts to record and validate votes, while AI-based facial recognition technology is integrated to verify the identity of voters. Rigorous testing and analysis are conducted to validate the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed blockchain-based voting model. The system underwent extensive simulation scenarios and stress tests to evaluate its performance, security, and usability.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Reineir S. Duran, Charven B. Balbon, Justine Zenon E. Balmes, Pol Brian G. Castro · 8 authors
EASY E-VOTE is a student government election voting system that utilized Ethereum blockchain, IPFS (Interplanetary File System), and MetaMask. This paper addressed challenges in traditional e-voting systems by introducing blockchain technology. The Ethereum blockchain provided security and immutability, while IPFS ensured efficient and distributed data storage. MetaMask offered a user-friendly interface. Moreover, the study reviewed literature on e-voting system security, immutability, data storage, distribution, privacy, and anonymity. As part of its data gathering, the study encompassed smart contract testing and a mock election using the proposed system. These experiments demonstrated system functionality and effectiveness. Overall, EASY E-VOTE offered a promising solution for student government elections, addressing limitations of traditional e-voting systems. Blockchain, IPFS, and MetaMask contributed to system security, data integrity, and user-friendliness, making it a viable alternative for transparent and trustworthy elections.
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Musan Eltuhami, Munaisyah Abdullahe, Bazilah A. Talip, Nik Nazli Nik Ahmad
Ensuring the integrity of voting systems is essential for the functioning of modern democratic societies. However, election interference and fraud remain persistent issues that threaten to undermine public trust in the democratic process. While blockchain technology has the potential to improve traceability and transparency in voting systems, the current use of fungible tokens in blockchain-based voting systems leaves them vulnerable to manipulation through vote buying and selling. To address this problem, this research proposes the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with smart contract functions for voting systems. This novel approach effectively represents complicated operations and ensures integrity, security, and privacy. in addition, it prevents fraud, corruption, tampering, and counterfeiting. The research will develop a framework and analyse the use of NFTs in voting systems to improve the integrity of the democratic process.
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Stefan Pancari, Anik Rashid, Jason Zheng, Shirali Patel · 6 authors
Despite the lack of blockchain systems being utilized in modern IoT environments, the prevalence of blockchain technology is increasing, due to its high level of security and accountability. The integration of blockchain technology and access control in a decentralized system for smart home networks is a promising solution to this issue. This paper compares the implementation of attribute-based access control (ABAC) with two popular blockchain platforms, Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric, for a smart home internet of things (IoT) environment. We present a comprehensive summary of access-control and blockchain-access-control methods, to provide the necessary background for this study. Additionally, we present an original ABAC smart contract for Ethereum, and the modification of a pre-existing Hyperledger Fabric ABAC smart contract, for this comparison. Through the simulation of both implementations, the advantages and limitations will be considered, to determine which is better suited for a smart home IoT environment.
Mochamad Heru Riza Chakim, Aliyah, M. Adhit Dwi Yuda, Rifqi Fahrudin · 5 authors
Voting is one of the methods used by humans to determine decisions in a case. Along with the development of technology, conventional voting also follows the transformation in the adaptation of the current digital era. There is an electronic version of this voting which is often called e-voting (electronic voting). Of course, the application of technology in voting will raise public opinion about concerns about maintaining network privacy and security in e-voting. Of course, security problems can be overcome with technology that is currently being utilized optimally in various fields of life, namely blockchain technology. In enhancing e-voting security, blockchain will be used in P2P networks. The application of the blockchain system in e-voting will produce a safe e-voting system so that it can reduce the percentage of forgery of votes in the e-voting system. Implementing a blockchain-based e-voting system will involve 3 elements, namely cryptography, software engineering theory, and voting theory. In realizing blockchain-based e-voting, several stages are needed. (1) vote counterfeiting is avoided by adjusting the voting recording model based on ledger technology, (2) in terms of authentication, this technology is equipped with elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) based user model design, (3) providing a model designed for voters to change their vote before the specified time limit. The integration of these three designs is an important requirement in the e-voting process, proving and verifying a blockchain-based e-voting system in a P2P network that has been designed on linux.