A Distributed Ledger Based Infrastructure for Smart Transportation System and Social Good

This paper presents a system architecture to promote the development of smart transportation systems. Thanks to the use of distributed ledgers and related technologies, it is possible to create, store and share data generated by users through their sensors, while moving. In particular, IOTA and IPFS are used to store and certify data (and their related metadata) coming from sensors or by the users themselves. Ethereum is exploited as the smart contract platform that coordinates the data sharing and provisioning. The necessary privacy guarantees are provided by the usage of Zero Knowledge Proof. We show some results obtained from some use case scenarios that demonstrate how such technologies can be integrated to build novel smart services and to promote social good in user mobility.Comment: Proceedings of the IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference 2020 (CCNC 2020

The use of Decentralized and Semantic Web Technologies for Personal Data Protection and Interoperability

The enactment of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been the response of the European Union to the growing data-driven economy backed up by the largest companies in the world. It provides the data protection and portability needed by individuals that \u201cunconsciously\u201d generate personal data for \u201cfree\u201d services offered by providers that lack transparency on their use. Meanwhile, the rise of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) offers new possibilities for the management of general purpose data, hence being suitable for handling personal data in a trustless scenario. These decentralized technologies bring a new concept of contract called smart because of its ability to be self-executable. DLTs and smart contracts, together with the use of Semantic Web standards, allows the creation of a decentralized digital space controlled entirely by an individual, where his personal data can be stored and transacted

Location Privacy and Inference in Online Social Networks

Data protection is about protecting information about per-sons, which is currently flowing without much control \u2013individuals can-not easily exercise the rights granted by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Individuals benefit from \u201cfree\u201d services offered by companies in exchange of their data, but these companies keep their users\u2019 data in \u201csilos\u201d that impede transparency on their use and possibilities of easy interactions. The introduction of the GDPR warrants control rights to individuals and the free portability of personal data from one entity to another. However it is still beyond the individual\u2019s capability to perceive whether their data is managed in compliance with GDPR. To this regard, in this work the proposed approach consists in using decentralized mechanisms to provide transparency through distributed ledgers, data flow governance by using smart contracts and interoperability relying on semantic web technologies

Implications of Dissemination Strategies on the Security of Distributed Ledgers

This paper describes a simulation study on security attacks over Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs). We specifically focus on attacks at the underlying peer-to-peer layer of these systems, that is in charge of disseminating messages containing data and transaction to be spread among all participants. In particular, we consider the Sybil attack, according to which a malicious node creates many Sybils that drop messages coming from a specific attacked node, or even all messages from honest nodes. Our study shows that the selection of the specific dissemination protocol, as well as the amount of connections each peer has, have an influence on the resistance to this attack.Comment: Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains for Distributed Systems (CryBlock 2020

Smart Contracts to Support the Advancement of Blockchain Technology in the Security Integrity

The development of technology today is used as a benchmark in the advancement of the industrial world where the development of technology has influenced various aspects in the life of today's society. Smart contracts as one form of blockchain technology that resembles a conventional contract can be used to bind agreements between one party and another. One difference between a smart contract and a conventional contract is the smart contract that is stored in the blockchain. With the presence of smart contracts on the blockchain has become one of the most sought-after technologies, because the number of users is high enough for each transaction within the company. In this case various features of smart contracts applications in various worlds, ranging from financial services, life sciences, energy resources and media voting. Smart contracts still pose a lot of challenges that overwhelm the interaction of some Parties, such as users, developers, and organizations built on smart contracts. Smart contracts are essentially a very effective source of problem solvers, where smart contracts on the blockchain make it easy to maintain data security, and save costs and time. In addition, in the absence of third parties strongly minimizes the fraud that is often done by irresponsible parties, this prevents conflicts between parties. Prone to cases of loss of a document is generated because there is no secure storage media. The advent of smart contracts on the blockchain is expected to be a solution to tackle most of the world's commercial and bureaucratic systems. &nbsp

Are Distributed Ledger Technologies Ready for Intelligent Transportation Systems?

The aim of this paper is to understand whether Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) are ready to support complex services, such as those related to Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). In smart transportation services, a huge amount of sensed data is generated by a multitude of vehicles. While DLTs provide very interesting features, such as immutability, traceability and verifiability of data,some doubts on the scalability and responsiveness of these technologies appear to be well-founded. We propose an architecture for ITS that resorts to DLT features. Moreover, we provide experimental results of a real test-bed over IOTA, a promising DLT for IoT. Results clearly show that, while the viability of the proposal cannot be rejected, further work is needed on the responsiveness of DLT infrastructure

On the Efficiency of Decentralized File Storage for Personal Information Management Systems

This paper presents an architecture, based on Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) and Decentralized File Storage (DFS) systems, to support the use of Personal Information Management Systems (PIMS). DLT and DFS are used to manage data sensed by mobile users equipped with devices with sensing capability. DLTs guarantee the immutability, traceability and verifiability of references to personal data, that are stored in DFS. In fact, the inclusion of data digests in the DLT makes it possible to obtain an unalterable reference and a tamper-proof log, while remaining compliant with the regulations on personal data, i.e. GDPR. We provide an experimental evaluation on the feasibility of the use of DFS. Three different scenarios have been studied: i) a proprietary IPFS approach with a dedicated node interfacing with the data producers, ii) a public IPFS service and iii) Sia Skynet. Results show that through proper configuration of the system infrastructure, it is viable to build a decentralized Personal Data Storage (PDS).Comment: To appear in the Proceedings of the 25th IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications (ISCC 2020

On the Efficiency of Decentralized File Storage for Personal Information Management Systems

This paper presents an architecture, based on Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) and Decentralized File Storage (DFS) systems, to support the use of Personal Information Management Systems (PIMS). DLT and DFS are used to manage data sensed by mobile users equipped with devices with sensing capability. DLTs guarantee the immutability, traceability and verifiability of references to personal data, that are stored in DFS. In fact, the inclusion of data digests in the DLT makes it possible to obtain an unalterable reference and a tamper-proof log, while remaining compliant with the regulations on personal data, i.e. GDPR. We provide an experimental evaluation on the feasibility of the use of DFS. Three different scenarios have been studied: i) a proprietary IPFS approach with a dedicated node interfacing with the data producers, ii) a public IPFS service and iii) Sia Skynet. Results show that through proper configuration of the system infrastructure, it is viable to build a decentralized Personal Data Storage (PDS)

Using Distributed Ledger Technologies in VANETs to Achieve Trusted Intelligent Transportation Systems

With the recent advancements in the networking realm of computers as well as achieving real-time communication between devices over the Internet, IoT (Internet of Things) devices have been on the rise; collecting, sharing, and exchanging data with other connected devices or databases online, enabling all sorts of communications and operations without the need for human intervention, oversight, or control. This has caused more computer-based systems to get integrated into the physical world, inching us closer towards developing smart cities. The automotive industry, alongside other software developers and technology companies have been at the forefront of this advancement towards achieving smart cities. Currently, transportation networks need to be revamped to utilize the massive amounts of data being generated by the public’s vehicle’s on-board devices, as well as other integrated sensors on public transit systems, local roads, and highways. This will create an interconnected ecosystem that can be leveraged to improve traffic efficiency and reliability. Currently, Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) communications, all play a major role in supporting road safety, traffic efficiency, and energy savings. To protect these devices and the networks they form from being targets of cyber-related attacks, this paper presents ideas on how to leverage distributed ledger technologies (DLT) to establish secure communication between vehicles that is decentralized, trustless, and immutable. Incorporating IOTA’s protocols, as well as utilizing Ethereum’s smart contracts functionality and application concepts with VANETs, all interoperating with Hyperledger’s Fabric framework, several novel ideas can be implemented to improve traffic safety and efficiency. Such a modular design also opens up the possibility to further investigate use cases of the blockchain and distributed ledger technologies in creating a decentralized intelligent transportation system (ITS)