Private Blockchain System Research Articles

Confidential Transaction Balance Verification by the Net Using Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge Proofs

One of the main trends for the monitoring and control of business processes is to implement these processes via private blockchain systems. These systems must ensure data privacy and verifiability for the entire network here denoted by ‘Net’. In addition, every business activity should be declared to a trusted third party (TTP), such as an Audit Authority (AA), for tax declaration and collection purposes. We present a solution for a confidential and verifiable realization of transactions based on the Unspent Transaction Output (UTxO) paradigm. This means that the total sum of transaction inputs (incomes) $In$ must be equal to the total sum of transaction outputs (expenses) $Ex$, satisfying the balance equation $In=Ex$. Privacy in a private blockchain must be achieved through the encryption of actual transaction values. However, it is crucial that all participants in the network be able to verify the validity of the transaction balance equation. This poses a challenge with probabilistically encrypted data. Moreover, the inputs and outputs are encrypted with different public keys. With the introduction of the AA, the number of different public keys for encryption can be reduced to two. Incomes are encrypted with the Receiver’s public key and expenses with the AA’s public key. The novelty of our realization lies in taking additively-multiplicative, homomorphic ElGamal encryption and integrating it with a proposed paradigm of modified Schnorr identification providing a non-interactive zero-knowledge proof (NIZKP) using a cryptographically secure h-function. Introducing the AA as a structural element in a blockchain system based on the UTxO enables effective verification of encrypted transaction data for the Net. This is possible because the proposed NIZKP is able to prove the equivalency of two ciphertexts encrypted with two different public keys and different actors. This integration allows all users on the Net to check the UTxO-based transaction balance equation on encrypted data. The security considerations of the proposed solution are presented.

Blockchain-based Distributed Financial Trust Evaluation System and Operation Mechanism

The functioning of the present-day financial system relies on the movement of funds and information. DeFi (Decentralized Finance), utilising blockchain technology, possesses the capability to establish autonomous and trustworthy smart contracts that do not require the involvement of intermediaries for escrow and auditing purposes. This results in the creation of a financial system that is characterised by its openness and transparency, devoid of any form of identity-based discrimination, and accessible to all individuals. The utilisation of a private blockchain system facilitates enhanced efficiency, while concurrently ensuring the attainment of privacy and security objectives. Moreover, such a system aligns more closely with prevailing regulatory standards. The Coalition Chain has the characteristic of a scale-free network, with its nodes following a power law distribution. This work aims to investigate credit governance from the standpoint of group behaviour and provide optimisation solutions accordingly.

Blockchain technology for immunisation documentation in India: findings from a simulation pilot

BackgroundImmunisation documentation in India has historically been fragmented over a number of systems. To reduce errors and wasted vaccinations for one of the largest and most complex public vaccination systems, data storage has migrated to electronic application-based data records. However, the system remains fragmented. There has been much interest in the global health sector about the use of blockchain technology to build secure, immutable databases for complex data in fragmented environments. As part of the Indian government's innovation initiatives, our project aims to describe a blockchain immunisation system to store immunisation data, pilot its use in India, and assess strengths, limitations, and feasibility of blockchain immunisation. MethodsA connector database—Anveshan—was developed for the state of Gujarat, India, to: (1) remove data fragmentation; (2) enable aggregate analysis to allow tracking of dynamic data; (3) track data changes; and (4) enable fault tolerance so data can be accurately preserved for long periods of time. Although live piloting was not possible because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a simulated pilot was done. A report including lessons learned, benefits and challenges of blockchain application to immunisation documentation, and recommendations for future usage was delivered. FindingsResults from the simulation showed that the Anveshan database was able to decrease data fragmentation by querying across both supply and delivery databases. Aggregate analysis capability was increased through development of a dashboard user interface that allowed policymakers and immunisation programme staff to receive real-time query feedback. Data changes could be tracked and private data encrypted by incorporating disincentives for inappropriate data modification. Blockchain technology properties increased fault tolerance, which make data less corruptible. Although blockchain technology offers benefits for data storage, it does not facilitate improvements in data collection and quality, which remain a significant challenge in India. Multiple health-care stakeholders would need to work together and have access to live data to ensure nationwide scalability. InterpretationOur findings show the challenges and benefits of a private blockchain system and identify areas requiring continued improvement for immunisation documentation in India. One important consideration in infrastructure design on a nationwide scale is the design of the blockchain system itself. This study is an important first step to show that evidence-based design innovation using blockchain can help countries such as India to address complex public health-care delivery conundrums. FundingIndia Grand Challenges grant (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and BIRAC, Government of India).

A Secure and Flexible FPGA-Based Blockchain System for the IIoT

Blockchain is a promising solution for Industry 4.0; however, it does not guarantee input data integrity. We propose a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based private blockchain system for the industrial Internet of Things, where the transaction generation is performed inside the FPGA in an isolated and enclaved manner.

Highly Secure Residents Life Event Management System Based on Blockchain by Hyperledger Fabric

This article describes the design and implementation of Residents Life Event Management System (hereinafter called as RLEMS) with high level reliability and security by blockchain technology. The data access environment provided by blockchain is highly secure and trustworthy. In Blockchain system, some data fragments are grouped into one piece called as blocks, and all blocks are connected to create a chain of blocks in database. When blocks are connected, hash value is used to connect blocks properly. Blockchain technology enables highly secure and reliable data management system under relatively poor ICT environment. For example, developing countries such as African countries do not have sufficient ICT environment. Therefore adopting blockchain technology is suitable for such countries. Based on this consideration, we have started to build RLEMS on the blockchain system. In previous work, we used the MultiChain as a blockchain platform. However, as MultiChain platform is mainly for private blockchain system, it is not suitable for government-level data management system. Therefore, we tried to use another blockchain framework. We selected Hyperledger Fabric which was developed by Linux Foundation. It enables to implement all styles of blockchain system. This article describes the design and implementation of RLEMS by using Hyperledger Fabric. Furthermore, to provide the best user experience, we also built the web application interface with Java web application framework named PrimeFace. The implementation of a prototype revealed that the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain technology is more suitable than MultiChain.

A Novel Monitoring System for the Data Integrity of Reactor Protection System Using Blockchain Technology

Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) are physically isolated from external networks and have different operational environments than conventional information technology (IT) systems. Accordingly, NPPs were regarded as safe from external cyber-attacks. However, it was later determined that isolated networks are not safe from cyber-attacks. Malicious data injection attacks on Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) deployed in the safety system of NPPs are critical to nuclear facilities, as they were in the Stuxnet attack. It is necessary to monitor the integrity of PLC data and protect the PLCs from cyber threats such as modification of deployed logic or setpoints. To address this problem, this paper proposes a novel system for monitoring data integrity of PLCs using blockchain technologies. Considering the NPP environment, we developed a private blockchain system to monitor the data integrity of PLCs. The new concept that is Proof of Monitoring (PoM) for data integrity of PLCs was proposed to overcome the limitation for applying the private blockchain to the cybersecurity of NPPs. Additionally, we developed an integrity monitoring system for the Reactor Protection System (RPS)—a safety system in NPPs—using the developed blockchain. It can detect cyber-attacks (such as false code injection attacks on PLCs) and monitor which PLC integrity has been compromised in real-time. A validation experiment using a false data injection attack on PLCs was performed on the developed system, and the results confirmed that the developed system successfully monitored the modification of data in the PLCs.

L7SP: a layer seven service provider for private blockchain systems

The interest in blockchain technology has grown over the years and its potential was soon perceived for other applications beyond the Bitcoin due to its decentralisation and immutability characteristics. The technology also has some limitations and technical challenges compared to centralised systems, especially in terms of performance and scalability. The current limitations prevent to use blockchain on a large scale for other types of applications, making studies necessary to address these gaps and evolve the technology. Considering this scenario, this paper proposes the L7SP model to work on private blockchain, giving contributions for performance gains, and system management improvement. L7SP provides an intermediate layer of services that allow faster transaction processing and online monitoring. The solution preserves the decentralisation nature of blockchain, so maintaining compatibility with legacy systems. A prototype was implemented to evaluate the model and the results showed performance gains with the L7SP introduction.

L7SP: a layer seven service provider for private blockchain systems

The interest in blockchain technology has grown over the years and its potential was soon perceived for other applications beyond the Bitcoin due to its decentralisation and immutability characteristics. The technology also has some limitations and technical challenges compared to centralised systems, especially in terms of performance and scalability. The current limitations prevent to use blockchain on a large scale for other types of applications, making studies necessary to address these gaps and evolve the technology. Considering this scenario, this paper proposes the L7SP model to work on private blockchain, giving contributions for performance gains, and system management improvement. L7SP provides an intermediate layer of services that allow faster transaction processing and online monitoring. The solution preserves the decentralisation nature of blockchain, so maintaining compatibility with legacy systems. A prototype was implemented to evaluate the model and the results showed performance gains with the L7SP introduction.

A Proposed Private Blockchain System for Preserving Evidence of False Internet Communications

A Proposed Private Blockchain System for Preserving Evidence of False Internet Communications

Tutorial

In the last few years, blockchain (also known as distributed ledger), the underlying technology of the permissionless or public Bitcoin network, has become very popular for use in private or permissioned environments. Computer companies like IBM and Microsoft, and many key players in different vertical industry segments have recognized the utility of blockchains for securely managing assets (physical/digital) other than cryptocurrencies. IBM did some pioneering work by architecting and implementing a private blockchain system, and then open sourcing it. That system, which has since then been named Fabric, is being enhanced via the Hyperledger Consortium set up under the auspices of the Linux Foundation. Other efforts in the industry include Enterprise Ethereum, R3 Corda and BigchainDB.