Secure and Privacy-Enhanced Data Sharing

Dear Colleagues,

With the widespread adoption of data-driven technologies such as the Internet of Things, edge computing, and large language models, data sharing has become an indispensable cornerstone for cross-sector collaboration, scientific innovation, and industrial digital transformation. However, the conflict between the need for open data flow and the necessity of protecting sensitive information has led to key issues such as data breaches, privacy violations, and unauthorized uses. Against this backdrop, secure and privacy-enhanced data sharing technologies have emerged as a critical research focus, driving continuous breakthroughs in balancing data value exploitation and privacy security protection to meet the evolving needs of trusted data ecosystems. The scope of this Special Issue, “Secure and Privacy-Enhanced Data Sharing”, covers theoretical foundations, practical mechanisms, and real-world implementations of secure data sharing systems. In this Special Issue, we aim to highlight cutting-edge research and developments that enhance the security and privacy of data sharing across domains such as healthcare, finance, industrial IoT, and cross-organizational collaborations.

We welcome the submission of original research and review articles that systematically address key challenges in secure and privacy-focused data sharing. Topics of interest range from novel cryptographic protocols and blockchain-based access control to differential privacy techniques, usability studies, and practical deployment experiences. Survey papers regarding the state-of-the-art solutions to these topics are also welcome.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Secure data sharing in large language models;
• Data ownership and user-centric sharing models;
• Consent management and transparent data usage;
• Blockchain and decentralized data sharing systems;
• Cross-domain and cross-organizational data sharing;
• Cloud computing, database, and computing infrastructure security;
• Usable security and human factors in data sharing;
• Post-quantum cryptography;
• Homomorphic encryption for data sharing;
• Real-world implementations and case studies.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Chuan Zhao
Dr. Shengnan Zhao
Guest Editors

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