A tamper-resistant timed secure data transmission protocol based on smart contract

Area of Science:

• Cryptography and Distributed Systems
• Blockchain Technology Applications

Background:

• Timed-release encryption (TRE) is crucial for time-sensitive data decryption.
• Existing single-time server TRE models suffer from a single point of failure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a tamper-resistant timed secure data transmission protocol using smart contracts.
• To address the limitations of existing TRE models by enhancing security and reliability.

Main Methods:

• Decomposing ciphertext into fragments to reduce middleman deposit requirements.
• Utilizing blockchain for hash value submission to ensure data authenticity.
• Implementing a smart contract-based protocol for secure data transmission.

Main Results:

• The protocol demonstrates resistance to interruption, release-ahead, and replacement attacks.
• Security redundancy is achieved through ciphertext decomposition modes.
• Monetary cost analysis on Ethereum's Rinkeby testnet shows a low and negligible cost.

Conclusions:

• The proposed smart contract-based protocol offers a robust and secure solution for timed-release encryption.
• The system provides enhanced security and overcomes single-point failure issues effectively.
• The protocol is practical for real-world applications due to its low operational cost.