Privacy-Preserving Blockchain-Based Authentication Scheme

Dear Colleagues,

Our Special Issue on “privacy-preserving blockchain technology (PPBT)” welcomes all pioneering efforts and solutions with the objective of protecting data privacy for blockchain users, as well as innovative privacy-preserving schemes devised with the help of blockchain. This covers two research directions on blockchain.

The first category encompasses innovative solutions that aim to enhance the privacy and confidentiality of data across blockchain networks while maintaining the data transparency and integrity that are inherent to blockchain technology. The need for privacy-preserving blockchain schemes arises from the inherent tension between the inherent transparency that blockchain offers and the privacy requirements of many of its users and applications. Blockchain's transparent nature, while a boon for security and trust, can be problematic when sensitive information is involved.

The second category of PPBT technology involves the exploration of blockchain technology itself as a foundation for secure privacy-preserving tools, e.g., the adoption of blockchain in user authorization and authentication. In an era of increasing cyber threats and data theft, traditional user data protection and anonymization methods often fall short due to the dilemma of safeguarding sensitive information while providing universal accessibility. Blockchain, known for its decentralized and tamper-resistant nature, offers a promising framework for networked distributed systems that prioritize user privacy. By leveraging cryptographic techniques and distributed consensus, these schemes ensure that user data, identities and authentication credentials are protected from unauthorized access and manipulation.

In this context, the integration of privacy-preserving mechanisms with blockchain technology becomes crucial. These mechanisms may include zero-knowledge proofs, homomorphic encryption, and other cryptographic protocols that enable users to efficiently encrypt their on-chain data and authenticate themselves without revealing sensitive information. The overall goal is to establish trust in digital interactions while minimizing the exposure of personal data.

This sets the stage for exploring the role of blockchain technology in addressing current challenges and obstacles related to user privacy preservation, delving into the technologies involved and their implications for enhancing security and privacy in our increasingly digitalized world.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• New lightweight distributed consensus algorithms for distributed systems.
• Exploration of energy efficiency in blockchain-based authorization and authentication.
• The use of smart contracts to automate and enforce authorization and authentication processes.
• Investigation of the concept of decentralized identity management using blockchain.
• Lightweight blockchain-based authentication for IoT devices.
• Exploring the combination of blockchain technology with biometric authentication methods.
• Solutions for maintaining privacy across different blockchain platforms, facilitating secure and anonymous cross-chain transactions.
• Interoperable privacy-preserving protocols that can be adopted universally across blockchains.
• Exploitation of vulnerabilities in existing blockchain-based authentication.
• Zero knowledge-based authentication approaches.
• Efficient and practical zero-knowledge proofs.
• New governance models for blockchain networks hosting privacy-preserving authentication.
• Applications of privacy-preserving authentication in specific industries like healthcare, finance, or supply chain.
• Novel solutions to address scalability issues without compromising privacy.
• The impact of quantum computing on privacy-preserving blockchains and quantum-safe privacy-preserving blockchain technologies.

Dr. Lu Yu
Guest Editor

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• privacy-preserving blockchain technology
• privacy-preserving protocols
• zero-knowledge proof
• distributed systems
• authorization and authentication
• biometric authentication methods