ID-based self-encryption via Hyperledger Fabric based smart contract

TL;DR

This paper presents a prototype architecture combining Hyperledger Fabric and IPFS with a smart contract-based self-encryption scheme that enhances data security and ownership verification for distributed ledger uploads.

Contribution

It introduces an extension to self-encryption by integrating user identity, ensuring persistent ownership linkage and improved security in blockchain-based data storage.

Findings

Enhanced data ownership verification through identity integration

Strong security guarantees for encrypted data and keys

Prototype implementation demonstrating improved security features

Abstract

This paper offers a prototype of a Hyperledger Fabric-IPFS based network architecture including a smart contract based encryption scheme that meant to improve the security of user's data that is being uploaded to the distributed ledger. A new extension to the self-encryption scheme was deployed by integrating data owner's identity into the encryption process. Such integration allows to permanently preserve ownership of the original file and link it to the person/entity who originally uploaded it. Moreover, self-encryption provides strong security guarantees that decryption of a file is computationally not feasible under the condition that the encrypted file and the key are safely stored.