An Improved Multi-Authority Attribute Access Control Scheme Base on Blockchain and Elliptic Curve for Efficient and Secure Data Sharing

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper presents an improved multi-authority ciphertext policy attribute-based encryption algorithm based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography. The algorithm aimed to provide a safe and efficient data-sharing scheme for an IoT system, where limited computational resources exist, and a lot of data can be generated by a number of devices.

The paper is well-written and structured. The introduction and related works analysis provide all the necessary background for the reader. The results are presented in a clear way, and the presentation of the paper is easy to follow up on.

The theoretical part describes the proposed solution in all needed details, followed by the detailed diagrams allowing to easily understand and reproduce the access control scheme setup.

On the plus side of the reviewed paper is the experimental part, which includes a series of experiments carried out to compare the proposed solution with the existing ones. These experiments include the scheme analysis in terms of distributed data storage usage, data integrity, elimination of data duplication, and decentralized access authorization, followed by the system performance analysis. The system performance analysis contains measurements of data storage performance, smart contract throughput evaluation, and attribute encryption analysis.

The research allows the authors to conclude that the developed multi-authority attribute access control scheme based on the Fabric blockchain solves the problems of data tampering, privacy leakage and redundant storage in centralized cloud storage, making the access control process more transparent and providing an auditable log. The experiments show that the scheme has substantial improvement in performance compared to other data-sharing schemes.

 

Minor spellchecking is needed: e.g., Figure 14-17 -> Figures 14-17 (line 582); data is -> data are; can the decryption be successful -> the decryption can be successful (line 120) etc.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper is about an improved multi-authority attribute access control scheme base which adopts contemporary technologies for efficient and secure data sharing. 

 

The Abstract is satisfactory. However, I would suggest the authors be more precise about the challenges so that the readers know what exactly the research is focused on. 

 

The Introduction section is satisfactory. A few lines about different types of blockchains and their features would help readers understand the type of blockchain this research has adopted. 

 

Section 2 is satisfactory. 

 

Section 3 introduces the basic attributes of each scheme adopted in the research. Nice work. 

Please use references properly. For instance, 3.4, 3.5 etc. 

The title of Section 4 should be concise. 

Section 4  is not clearly presented. I would advise the authors to introduce the architecture first, define the functionalities of each component and then the rest of the part. 

Also, this section contains unnecessary contexts which must be removed. 

I would suggest dividing the section into two to make it more readable to the readers. 

Section 5 is satisfactory. 

 

The Conclusion section needs improvement. The authors need to be precise about their contribution and also the correct tense needs to be used. 

Overall, it is a nicely written paper. However, there are some technical inaccuracies and frequent grammar errors throughout the paper. Please review the manuscript and correct it where necessary.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Thanks to the authors for addressing the comments. 

One minor thing I would like to point out.  It would be nice if the authors could cite the  four mainstream platforms defined in lines 37-56. 

The following papers discussing the bitcoin consensus ( PoW, PoS, etc), smart contracts and so on should be appropriate; 

1. Assessing blockchain consensus and security mechanisms against the 51% attack, S Sayeed, H Marco-Gisbert

2. Smart contract: Attacks and protections, S Sayeed, H Marco-Gisbert, T Caira