1.
Ahmet Kurt, Kemal Akkaya, Sabri Yilmaz, Suat Mercan
LNGate2: Secure Bidirectional IoT Micro-Payments Using Bitcoin's Lightning Network and Threshold Cryptography Proceedings Article
In: IEEE, 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@inproceedings{nokey,
title = {LNGate2: Secure Bidirectional IoT Micro-Payments Using Bitcoin's Lightning Network and Threshold Cryptography},
author = {Ahmet Kurt and Kemal Akkaya and Sabri Yilmaz and Suat Mercan},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10256145/},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-09-20},
journal = {IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing},
publisher = {IEEE},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {Bitcoin has emerged as a revolutionary payment system with its decentralized ledger concept; however it has significant problems such as high transaction fees and low throughput. Lightning Network (LN), which was introduced much later, solves most of these problems with an innovative concept called off-chain payments. With this advancement, Bitcoin has become an attractive venue to perform micro-payments which can also be adopted in many IoT applications (e.g., toll payments). Nevertheless, it is not feasible to host LN and Bitcoin on IoT devices due to the storage, memory, and processing restrictions. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a secure and efficient protocol that enables an IoT device to use LN's functions through an untrusted gateway node. Through this gateway which hosts the LN and Bitcoin nodes, the IoT device can open & close LN channels and send & receive LN payments. This},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Bitcoin has emerged as a revolutionary payment system with its decentralized ledger concept; however it has significant problems such as high transaction fees and low throughput. Lightning Network (LN), which was introduced much later, solves most of these problems with an innovative concept called off-chain payments. With this advancement, Bitcoin has become an attractive venue to perform micro-payments which can also be adopted in many IoT applications (e.g., toll payments). Nevertheless, it is not feasible to host LN and Bitcoin on IoT devices due to the storage, memory, and processing restrictions. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a secure and efficient protocol that enables an IoT device to use LN's functions through an untrusted gateway node. Through this gateway which hosts the LN and Bitcoin nodes, the IoT device can open & close LN channels and send & receive LN payments. This
2.
Ahmet Kurt, Enes Erdin, Kemal Akkaya, Selcuk Uluagac, Mumin Cebe
D-LNBot: A Scalable, Cost-Free and Covert Hybrid Botnet on Bitcoin's Lightning Network Proceedings Article
In: IEEE, 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@inproceedings{nokey,
title = {D-LNBot: A Scalable, Cost-Free and Covert Hybrid Botnet on Bitcoin's Lightning Network},
author = {Ahmet Kurt and Enes Erdin and Kemal Akkaya and Selcuk Uluagac and Mumin Cebe},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10198749/},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-08-01},
journal = {IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing},
publisher = {IEEE},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {While various covert botnets were proposed in the past, they still lack complete anonymization for their servers/botmasters or suffer from slow communication between the botmaster and the bots. In this paper, we first propose a new generation hybrid botnet that covertly and efficiently communicates over Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN), called LNBot. Exploiting various anonymity features of LN, we show the feasibility of a scalable two-layer botnet which completely anonymizes the identity of the botmaster. In the first layer, the botmaster anonymously sends the commands to the command and control (C&C) servers through regular LN payments. Specifically, LNBot allows botmaster's commands to be sent in the form of surreptitious multi-hop LN payments, where the commands are either encoded with the payments or attached to the payments to provide covert communications. In the second layer, C&C servers further},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
While various covert botnets were proposed in the past, they still lack complete anonymization for their servers/botmasters or suffer from slow communication between the botmaster and the bots. In this paper, we first propose a new generation hybrid botnet that covertly and efficiently communicates over Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN), called LNBot. Exploiting various anonymity features of LN, we show the feasibility of a scalable two-layer botnet which completely anonymizes the identity of the botmaster. In the first layer, the botmaster anonymously sends the commands to the command and control (C&C) servers through regular LN payments. Specifically, LNBot allows botmaster's commands to be sent in the form of surreptitious multi-hop LN payments, where the commands are either encoded with the payments or attached to the payments to provide covert communications. In the second layer, C&C servers further
3.
Ahmet Kurt, Abdulhadi Sahin, Ricardo Harrilal-Parchment, Kemal Akkaya
LNMesh: Who Said You need Internet to send Bitcoin? Offline Lightning Network Payments using Community Wireless Mesh Networks Journal Article
In: arXiv preprint arXiv:2304.14559, 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {LNMesh: Who Said You need Internet to send Bitcoin? Offline Lightning Network Payments using Community Wireless Mesh Networks},
author = {Ahmet Kurt and Abdulhadi Sahin and Ricardo Harrilal-Parchment and Kemal Akkaya},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.14559},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-04-27},
journal = {arXiv preprint arXiv:2304.14559},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {Bitcoin is undoubtedly a great alternative to today's existing digital payment systems. Even though Bitcoin's scalability has been debated for a long time, we see that it is no longer a concern thanks to its layer-2 solution Lightning Network (LN). LN has been growing non-stop since its creation and enabled fast, cheap, anonymous, censorship-resistant Bitcoin transactions. However, as known, LN nodes need an active Internet connection to operate securely which may not be always possible. For example, in the aftermath of natural disasters or power outages, users may not have Internet access for a while. Thus, in this paper, we propose LNMesh which enables offline LN payments on top of wireless mesh networks. Users of a neighborhood or a community can establish a wireless mesh network to use it as an infrastructure to enable offline LN payments when they do not have any Internet connection. As such, we first present proof-of-concept implementations where we successfully perform offline LN payments utilizing Bluetooth Low Energy and WiFi. For larger networks with more users where users can also move around, channel assignments in the network need to be made strategically and thus, we propose 1) minimum connected dominating set; and 2) uniform spanning tree based channel assignment approaches. Finally, to test these approaches, we implemented a simulator in Python along with the support of BonnMotion mobility tool. We then extensively tested the performance metrics of large-scale realistic offline LN payments on mobile wireless mesh networks. Our simulation results show that, success rates up to percent95 are achievable with},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Bitcoin is undoubtedly a great alternative to today's existing digital payment systems. Even though Bitcoin's scalability has been debated for a long time, we see that it is no longer a concern thanks to its layer-2 solution Lightning Network (LN). LN has been growing non-stop since its creation and enabled fast, cheap, anonymous, censorship-resistant Bitcoin transactions. However, as known, LN nodes need an active Internet connection to operate securely which may not be always possible. For example, in the aftermath of natural disasters or power outages, users may not have Internet access for a while. Thus, in this paper, we propose LNMesh which enables offline LN payments on top of wireless mesh networks. Users of a neighborhood or a community can establish a wireless mesh network to use it as an infrastructure to enable offline LN payments when they do not have any Internet connection. As such, we first present proof-of-concept implementations where we successfully perform offline LN payments utilizing Bluetooth Low Energy and WiFi. For larger networks with more users where users can also move around, channel assignments in the network need to be made strategically and thus, we propose 1) minimum connected dominating set; and 2) uniform spanning tree based channel assignment approaches. Finally, to test these approaches, we implemented a simulator in Python along with the support of BonnMotion mobility tool. We then extensively tested the performance metrics of large-scale realistic offline LN payments on mobile wireless mesh networks. Our simulation results show that, success rates up to percent95 are achievable with
4.
Sondra Skelaney, Hadi Sahin, Kemal Akkaya, Sukumar Ganapati
Government Applications and Standards to Use Blockchain Journal Article
In: pp. 99–122, 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {Government Applications and Standards to Use Blockchain},
author = {Sondra Skelaney and Hadi Sahin and Kemal Akkaya and Sukumar Ganapati},
url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-19-8730-4_4},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-03-10},
pages = {99–122},
publisher = {Springer Nature Singapore},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {This chapter examines the public sector applications of blockchain technology in government. Blockchain has found quick adoption in the public sector with versatile uses across several domains. We survey these extant and potential uses of blockchain in this chapter. Governments mediate or undertake a plethora of transactions which require transparency, security, and integrity in the long term. Blockchain technology has a strong potential to fulfill these requirements for governmental operations. We highlight the technologys application in transforming various such government functions. Exemplary governmental uses of blockchain include those related to real estate, digital identity, infrastructure management, safety, and emergency management, and smart contracts. These cases demonstrate how the blockchain technologys applications transcend those of the traditional use in cryptocurrency. We posit that the},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This chapter examines the public sector applications of blockchain technology in government. Blockchain has found quick adoption in the public sector with versatile uses across several domains. We survey these extant and potential uses of blockchain in this chapter. Governments mediate or undertake a plethora of transactions which require transparency, security, and integrity in the long term. Blockchain technology has a strong potential to fulfill these requirements for governmental operations. We highlight the technologys application in transforming various such government functions. Exemplary governmental uses of blockchain include those related to real estate, digital identity, infrastructure management, safety, and emergency management, and smart contracts. These cases demonstrate how the blockchain technologys applications transcend those of the traditional use in cryptocurrency. We posit that the
5.
Suyel Namasudra, Kemal Akkaya
Introduction to Blockchain Technology Journal Article
In: pp. 1–28, 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {Introduction to Blockchain Technology},
author = {Suyel Namasudra and Kemal Akkaya},
url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-19-8730-4_1},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-03-10},
pages = {1–28},
publisher = {Springer Nature Singapore},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {Blockchain is a novel decentralized technology that is used to share, replicate, and synchronize data across different geographical locations. It guarantees a trusted transaction in any untrustworthy environment. There is no central administrator or central authority to control all the data-related aspects of blockchain technology. A blockchain network depends on the consensus algorithm that must be agreed upon by all the entities for any new transaction. There are numerous advantages of blockchain, such as security, trust, open source, traceability, transparency, and many more, which make it very popular to apply in different sectors. This chapter first covers all the technologies behind blockchain. Then, some fundamental aspects of blockchain, such as types of blockchain, features, advantages, and disadvantages have been discussed. Many applications of blockchain technology in several sectors are presented in},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Blockchain is a novel decentralized technology that is used to share, replicate, and synchronize data across different geographical locations. It guarantees a trusted transaction in any untrustworthy environment. There is no central administrator or central authority to control all the data-related aspects of blockchain technology. A blockchain network depends on the consensus algorithm that must be agreed upon by all the entities for any new transaction. There are numerous advantages of blockchain, such as security, trust, open source, traceability, transparency, and many more, which make it very popular to apply in different sectors. This chapter first covers all the technologies behind blockchain. Then, some fundamental aspects of blockchain, such as types of blockchain, features, advantages, and disadvantages have been discussed. Many applications of blockchain technology in several sectors are presented in
6.
Suyel Namasudra, Kemal Akkaya
Blockchain and its Applications in Industry 4.0 Journal Article
In: vol. 119, 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {Blockchain and its Applications in Industry 4.0},
author = {Suyel Namasudra and Kemal Akkaya},
url = {https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=OyezEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=info:tRX3e9iexHIJ:scholar.google.com&ots=dD4VhQX3fb&sig=0y_Nz1c79A312G2cGTrdaGXR5Fc},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-03-09},
volume = {119},
publisher = {Springer Nature},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {This book discusses fundamentals of Blockchain technology and Industry 4.0. It discusses many applications of Blockchain technology in Industry 4.0, including integration of AI, IoT, and big data with Blockchain for Industry 4.0. It provides cutting-edge research content from researchers, academicians, and other professionals from different background areas to show their state-of-the-art knowledge to use Blockchain in Industry 4.0. The book discusses advantages of Industry 4.0, such as improved productivity, improved efficiency, flexibility, agility, better user experience, and many more, and also entails some challenges too, such as trust, traceability, security, reliability, transparency, etc., for creating an application of Industry 4.0. The book helps graduate, postgraduate, doctoral students, and industrial professionals to implement Blockchain in Industry 4.0.},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This book discusses fundamentals of Blockchain technology and Industry 4.0. It discusses many applications of Blockchain technology in Industry 4.0, including integration of AI, IoT, and big data with Blockchain for Industry 4.0. It provides cutting-edge research content from researchers, academicians, and other professionals from different background areas to show their state-of-the-art knowledge to use Blockchain in Industry 4.0. The book discusses advantages of Industry 4.0, such as improved productivity, improved efficiency, flexibility, agility, better user experience, and many more, and also entails some challenges too, such as trust, traceability, security, reliability, transparency, etc., for creating an application of Industry 4.0. The book helps graduate, postgraduate, doctoral students, and industrial professionals to implement Blockchain in Industry 4.0.
7.
Maryna Veksler, Clara Caspard, Kemal Akkaya
Image-to-Image Translation Generative Adversarial Networks for Video Source Camera Falsification Journal Article
In: pp. 3–18, 2022.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {Image-to-Image Translation Generative Adversarial Networks for Video Source Camera Falsification},
author = {Maryna Veksler and Clara Caspard and Kemal Akkaya},
url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-36574-4_1},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-11-16},
pages = {3–18},
publisher = {Springer Nature Switzerland},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {The emerging usage of multimedia devices led to a burst in criminal cases where digital forensics investigations are needed. This necessitate development of accurate digital forensic techniques which require not only the confirmation of the data integrity but also the verification of its origin source. To this end, machine and/or deep learning techniques are widely being employed within forensics tools. Nevertheless, while these techniques became an efficient tool for the forensic investigators, they also provided the attackers with novel methods for the data and source falsification. In this paper, we propose a simple and effective anti-forensics attack that uses generative adversarial networks (GANs) to compromise the videos camera source traces. In our approach, we adopt the popular image-to-image translation GANs to fool the existing algorithms for video source camera identification. Our experimental results},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The emerging usage of multimedia devices led to a burst in criminal cases where digital forensics investigations are needed. This necessitate development of accurate digital forensic techniques which require not only the confirmation of the data integrity but also the verification of its origin source. To this end, machine and/or deep learning techniques are widely being employed within forensics tools. Nevertheless, while these techniques became an efficient tool for the forensic investigators, they also provided the attackers with novel methods for the data and source falsification. In this paper, we propose a simple and effective anti-forensics attack that uses generative adversarial networks (GANs) to compromise the videos camera source traces. In our approach, we adopt the popular image-to-image translation GANs to fool the existing algorithms for video source camera identification. Our experimental results
8.
Maryam Abbasi, Mohammad Hossein Manshaei, Mohammad Ashiqur Rahman, Kemal Akkaya, Murtuza Jadliwala
On Algorand Transaction Fees: Challenges and Mechanism Design Proceedings Article
In: ICC 2022-IEEE International Conference on Communications, pp. 5403–5408, IEEE, 2022.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@inproceedings{nokey,
title = {On Algorand Transaction Fees: Challenges and Mechanism Design},
author = {Maryam Abbasi and Mohammad Hossein Manshaei and Mohammad Ashiqur Rahman and Kemal Akkaya and Murtuza Jadliwala},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9838795/},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-05-16},
booktitle = {ICC 2022-IEEE International Conference on Communications},
pages = {5403–5408},
publisher = {IEEE},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {Algorand is a public proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain with a throughput of 750 MB of transactions per hour, 125 times more than Bitcoin. While the throughput of Algorand depends on the participation of most of its nodes, rational nodes may behave selfishly and not cooperate with others. To encourage nodes to participate in the consensus protocol, Algorand rewards nodes in each round. However, currently Algorand does not pay transaction fees to participating nodes, rather storing it for future use. In this paper, we show that this current approach of Algorand motivates selfish block proposers to increase their profits by creating empty blocks. Such selfish behavior reduces the throughput of Algorand. Therefore, the price of Algo will decrease in the long run. Because of this price reduction, nodes will leave Algorand, compromising its security. Moreover, lack of an appropriate mechanism to pay fees to participants},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Algorand is a public proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain with a throughput of 750 MB of transactions per hour, 125 times more than Bitcoin. While the throughput of Algorand depends on the participation of most of its nodes, rational nodes may behave selfishly and not cooperate with others. To encourage nodes to participate in the consensus protocol, Algorand rewards nodes in each round. However, currently Algorand does not pay transaction fees to participating nodes, rather storing it for future use. In this paper, we show that this current approach of Algorand motivates selfish block proposers to increase their profits by creating empty blocks. Such selfish behavior reduces the throughput of Algorand. Therefore, the price of Algo will decrease in the long run. Because of this price reduction, nodes will leave Algorand, compromising its security. Moreover, lack of an appropriate mechanism to pay fees to participants
9.
Ahmet Kurt, Suat Mercan, Enes Erdin, Kemal Akkaya
3-of-3 Multisignature Approach for Enabling Lightning Network Micro-payments on IoT Devices Journal Article
In: arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.09950, 2021.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {3-of-3 Multisignature Approach for Enabling Lightning Network Micro-payments on IoT Devices},
author = {Ahmet Kurt and Suat Mercan and Enes Erdin and Kemal Akkaya},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.09950},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-09-21},
journal = {arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.09950},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {Bitcoin's success as a cryptocurrency enabled it to penetrate into many daily life transactions. Its problems regarding the transaction fees and long validation times are addressed through an innovative concept called the Lightning Network (LN) which works on top of Bitcoin by leveraging off-chain transactions. This made Bitcoin an attractive micro-payment solution that can also be used within certain IoT applications (e.g., toll payments) since it eliminates the need for traditional centralized payment systems. Nevertheless, it is not possible to run LN and Bitcoin on resource-constrained IoT devices due to their storage, memory, and processing requirements. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an efficient and secure protocol that enables an IoT device to use LN's functions through a gateway LN node even if it is not trusted. The idea is to involve the IoT device only in signing operations, which is possible by replacing LN's original 2-of-2 multisignature channels with 3-of-3 multisignature channels. Once the gateway is delegated to open a channel for the IoT device in a secure manner, our protocol enforces the gateway to request the IoT device's cryptographic signature for all further operations on the channel such as sending payments or closing the channel. LN's Bitcoin transactions are revised to incorporate the 3-of-3 multisignature channels. In addition, we propose other changes to protect the IoT device's funds from getting stolen in possible revoked state broadcast attempts. We evaluated the proposed protocol using a Raspberry Pi considering a toll payment scenario. Our results show that timely payments can be sent and the computational and},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Bitcoin's success as a cryptocurrency enabled it to penetrate into many daily life transactions. Its problems regarding the transaction fees and long validation times are addressed through an innovative concept called the Lightning Network (LN) which works on top of Bitcoin by leveraging off-chain transactions. This made Bitcoin an attractive micro-payment solution that can also be used within certain IoT applications (e.g., toll payments) since it eliminates the need for traditional centralized payment systems. Nevertheless, it is not possible to run LN and Bitcoin on resource-constrained IoT devices due to their storage, memory, and processing requirements. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an efficient and secure protocol that enables an IoT device to use LN's functions through a gateway LN node even if it is not trusted. The idea is to involve the IoT device only in signing operations, which is possible by replacing LN's original 2-of-2 multisignature channels with 3-of-3 multisignature channels. Once the gateway is delegated to open a channel for the IoT device in a secure manner, our protocol enforces the gateway to request the IoT device's cryptographic signature for all further operations on the channel such as sending payments or closing the channel. LN's Bitcoin transactions are revised to incorporate the 3-of-3 multisignature channels. In addition, we propose other changes to protect the IoT device's funds from getting stolen in possible revoked state broadcast attempts. We evaluated the proposed protocol using a Raspberry Pi considering a toll payment scenario. Our results show that timely payments can be sent and the computational and
10.
Ahmet Kurt, Suat Mercan, Omer Shlomovits, Enes Erdin, Kemal Akkaya
Lngate: Powering iot with next generation lightning micro-payments using threshold cryptography Journal Article
In: pp. 117–128, 2021.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {Lngate: Powering iot with next generation lightning micro-payments using threshold cryptography},
author = {Ahmet Kurt and Suat Mercan and Omer Shlomovits and Enes Erdin and Kemal Akkaya},
url = {https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3448300.3467833},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-06-28},
pages = {117–128},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {Bitcoin has emerged as a revolutionary payment system with its decentralized ledger concept however it has significant problems such as high transaction fees and long confirmation times. Lightning Network (LN), which was introduced much later, solves most of these problems with an innovative concept called off-chain payments. With this advancement, Bitcoin has become an attractive venue to perform micro-payments which can also be adopted in many IoT applications (e.g. toll payments). Nevertheless, it is not feasible to host LN and Bitcoin on IoT devices due to the storage, memory, and processing requirements. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an efficient and secure protocol that enables an IoT device to use LN through an untrusted gateway node. The gateway hosts LN and Bitcoin nodes and can open & close LN channels, send LN payments on behalf of the IoT device. This delegation approach is},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Bitcoin has emerged as a revolutionary payment system with its decentralized ledger concept however it has significant problems such as high transaction fees and long confirmation times. Lightning Network (LN), which was introduced much later, solves most of these problems with an innovative concept called off-chain payments. With this advancement, Bitcoin has become an attractive venue to perform micro-payments which can also be adopted in many IoT applications (e.g. toll payments). Nevertheless, it is not feasible to host LN and Bitcoin on IoT devices due to the storage, memory, and processing requirements. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an efficient and secure protocol that enables an IoT device to use LN through an untrusted gateway node. The gateway hosts LN and Bitcoin nodes and can open & close LN channels, send LN payments on behalf of the IoT device. This delegation approach is
11.
Ahmet Kurt, Suat Mercana, Enes Erdin, Kemal Akkaya
Enabling micro-payments on IoT devices using bitcoin lightning network Proceedings Article
In: 2021 IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (ICBC), pp. 1–3, IEEE, 2021.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@inproceedings{nokey,
title = {Enabling micro-payments on IoT devices using bitcoin lightning network},
author = {Ahmet Kurt and Suat Mercana and Enes Erdin and Kemal Akkaya},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9461096/},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-05-03},
booktitle = {2021 IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (ICBC)},
pages = {1–3},
publisher = {IEEE},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {Lightning Network (LN) addresses the scalability problem of Bitcoin by leveraging off-chain transactions. Nevertheless, it is not possible to run LN on resource-constrained IoT devices due to its storage, memory, and processing requirements. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an efficient and secure protocol that enables an IoT device to use LNs functions through a gateway LN node. The idea is to involve the IoT device in LN operations with its digital signature by replacing original 2-of-2 multisignature channels with 3-of-3 multisignature channels. Our protocol enforces the LN gateway to request the IoT devices cryptographic signature for all operations on the channel. We evaluated the proposed protocol by implementing it on a Raspberry Pi for a toll payment scenario and demonstrated its feasibility and security.},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Lightning Network (LN) addresses the scalability problem of Bitcoin by leveraging off-chain transactions. Nevertheless, it is not possible to run LN on resource-constrained IoT devices due to its storage, memory, and processing requirements. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an efficient and secure protocol that enables an IoT device to use LNs functions through a gateway LN node. The idea is to involve the IoT device in LN operations with its digital signature by replacing original 2-of-2 multisignature channels with 3-of-3 multisignature channels. Our protocol enforces the LN gateway to request the IoT devices cryptographic signature for all operations on the channel. We evaluated the proposed protocol by implementing it on a Raspberry Pi for a toll payment scenario and demonstrated its feasibility and security.
12.
Enes Erdin, Mumin Cebe, Kemal Akkaya, Eyuphan Bulut, Selcuk Uluagac
A scalable private Bitcoin payment channel network with privacy guarantees Journal Article
In: Journal of Network and Computer Applications, vol. 180, pp. 103021, 2021.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {A scalable private Bitcoin payment channel network with privacy guarantees},
author = {Enes Erdin and Mumin Cebe and Kemal Akkaya and Eyuphan Bulut and Selcuk Uluagac},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1084804521000485},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-15},
journal = {Journal of Network and Computer Applications},
volume = {180},
pages = {103021},
publisher = {Academic Press},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {While Bitcoin heavily dominates the cryptocurrency markets, its use in micropayments is still a challenge due to long transaction confirmation times and high fees. Recently, the concept of off-chain transactions is introduced that led to the idea of establishing a payment channel network called Lightning Network (LN), which utilizes multi-hop payments. Off-chain links provide the ability to make instant payments without a need to writing to Blockchain. However, LN's design still favors fees, and it is creating hub nodes or relays that defeat the purpose of Blockchain. In addition, it is still not reliable, as not all transactions are guaranteed to be delivered to their destinations. These issues hinder its wide adoption by retailers. To address this issue, in this paper, we argue that the retailers could create a private payment channel network among them to serve their business needs, just like the concept of private Blockchains},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
While Bitcoin heavily dominates the cryptocurrency markets, its use in micropayments is still a challenge due to long transaction confirmation times and high fees. Recently, the concept of off-chain transactions is introduced that led to the idea of establishing a payment channel network called Lightning Network (LN), which utilizes multi-hop payments. Off-chain links provide the ability to make instant payments without a need to writing to Blockchain. However, LN's design still favors fees, and it is creating hub nodes or relays that defeat the purpose of Blockchain. In addition, it is still not reliable, as not all transactions are guaranteed to be delivered to their destinations. These issues hinder its wide adoption by retailers. To address this issue, in this paper, we argue that the retailers could create a private payment channel network among them to serve their business needs, just like the concept of private Blockchains
13.
Suat Mercan, Ahmet Kurt, Kemal Akkaya, Enes Erdin
Cryptocurrency solutions to enable micropayments in consumer IoT Proceedings Article
In: pp. 97–103, IEEE, 2021.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@inproceedings{nokey,
title = {Cryptocurrency solutions to enable micropayments in consumer IoT},
author = {Suat Mercan and Ahmet Kurt and Kemal Akkaya and Enes Erdin},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9359463/},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-02-19},
journal = {IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine},
volume = {11},
number = {2},
issue = {2},
pages = {97–103},
publisher = {IEEE},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {The successful amalgamation of cryptocurrency and consumer Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices can pave the way for novel applications in machine-to-machine economy. However, the lack of scalability and heavy resource requirements of initial blockchain designs hinder the integration, and it is unclear how consumer devices will be adopting cryptocurrency. Therefore, in this article, we critically review the existing integration approaches and cryptocurrency designs that strive to enable micropayments among consumer devices. We identify and discuss solutions under three main categories; direct integration, payment channel network, and new cryptocurrency design. The first approach utilizes a full node to interact with the payment system. Offline channel payment is suggested as a second-layer solution to solve the scalability issue and enable instant payment with low fee. New designs converge to semicentralized},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
The successful amalgamation of cryptocurrency and consumer Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices can pave the way for novel applications in machine-to-machine economy. However, the lack of scalability and heavy resource requirements of initial blockchain designs hinder the integration, and it is unclear how consumer devices will be adopting cryptocurrency. Therefore, in this article, we critically review the existing integration approaches and cryptocurrency designs that strive to enable micropayments among consumer devices. We identify and discuss solutions under three main categories; direct integration, payment channel network, and new cryptocurrency design. The first approach utilizes a full node to interact with the payment system. Offline channel payment is suggested as a second-layer solution to solve the scalability issue and enable instant payment with low fee. New designs converge to semicentralized
14.
Enes Erdin, Suat Mercan, Kemal Akkaya
An evaluation of cryptocurrency payment channel networks and their privacy implications Journal Article
In: arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.02659, 2021.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {An evaluation of cryptocurrency payment channel networks and their privacy implications},
author = {Enes Erdin and Suat Mercan and Kemal Akkaya},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.02659},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-02-04},
journal = {arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.02659},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {Cryptocurrencies redefined how money can be stored and transferred among users. However, independent of the amount being sent, public blockchain-based cryptocurrencies suffer from high transaction waiting times and fees. These drawbacks hinder the wide use of cryptocurrencies by masses. To address these challenges, payment channel network concept is touted as the most viable solution to be used for micro-payments. The idea is exchanging the ownership of money by keeping the state of the accounts locally. The users inform the blockchain rarely, which decreases the load on the blockchain. Specifically, payment channel networks can provide transaction approvals in seconds by charging a nominal fee proportional to the payment amount. Such attraction on payment channel networks inspired many recent studies which focus on how to design them and allocate channels such that the transactions will be secure and efficient. However, as payment channel networks are emerging and reaching large number of users, privacy issues are becoming more relevant that raise concerns about exposing not only individual habits but also businesses' revenues. In this paper, we first propose a categorization of the existing payment networks formed on top of blockchain-backed cryptocurrencies. After discussing several emerging attacks on user/business privacy in these payment channel networks, we qualitatively evaluate them based on a number of privacy metrics that relate to our case. Based on the discussions on the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches, we offer possible directions for research for the future of privacy based},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Cryptocurrencies redefined how money can be stored and transferred among users. However, independent of the amount being sent, public blockchain-based cryptocurrencies suffer from high transaction waiting times and fees. These drawbacks hinder the wide use of cryptocurrencies by masses. To address these challenges, payment channel network concept is touted as the most viable solution to be used for micro-payments. The idea is exchanging the ownership of money by keeping the state of the accounts locally. The users inform the blockchain rarely, which decreases the load on the blockchain. Specifically, payment channel networks can provide transaction approvals in seconds by charging a nominal fee proportional to the payment amount. Such attraction on payment channel networks inspired many recent studies which focus on how to design them and allocate channels such that the transactions will be secure and efficient. However, as payment channel networks are emerging and reaching large number of users, privacy issues are becoming more relevant that raise concerns about exposing not only individual habits but also businesses' revenues. In this paper, we first propose a categorization of the existing payment networks formed on top of blockchain-backed cryptocurrencies. After discussing several emerging attacks on user/business privacy in these payment channel networks, we qualitatively evaluate them based on a number of privacy metrics that relate to our case. Based on the discussions on the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches, we offer possible directions for research for the future of privacy based
15.
Suat Mercan, Enes Erdin, Kemal Akkaya
Improving transaction success rate in cryptocurrency payment channel networks Journal Article
In: Computer Communications, vol. 166, pp. 196–207, 2021.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {Improving transaction success rate in cryptocurrency payment channel networks},
author = {Suat Mercan and Enes Erdin and Kemal Akkaya},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140366420320156},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-01-15},
journal = {Computer Communications},
volume = {166},
pages = {196–207},
publisher = {Elsevier},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies has received a substantial interest in the last decade as Blockchain can ensure trust among users without relying on third parties. However, cryptocurrency adoption for micro-payments has been limited due to slow confirmation of transactions and unforeseeable high fees, especially in the case of Bitcoin. To this end, creating off-chain payment channels between users is proposed which enables instant and nearly free transactions without writing to blockchain. Off-chain channel idea is then extended to establish payment channel networks to scale the idea to allow payment routing among many users. However, due to the way these channels are designed, both sides of a channel have a fixed one-way capacity for making transactions. Consequently, if one side consumes the whole one-way capacity, the channel becomes non-transitive in that particular direction, which causes},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies has received a substantial interest in the last decade as Blockchain can ensure trust among users without relying on third parties. However, cryptocurrency adoption for micro-payments has been limited due to slow confirmation of transactions and unforeseeable high fees, especially in the case of Bitcoin. To this end, creating off-chain payment channels between users is proposed which enables instant and nearly free transactions without writing to blockchain. Off-chain channel idea is then extended to establish payment channel networks to scale the idea to allow payment routing among many users. However, due to the way these channels are designed, both sides of a channel have a fixed one-way capacity for making transactions. Consequently, if one side consumes the whole one-way capacity, the channel becomes non-transitive in that particular direction, which causes
16.
Huimin Lu, Pin-Han Ho, Haider Abbas, Trung Q Duong, Ammar Rayes, Kemal Akkaya
Guest Editorial Introduction to the Special Section on Cognitive Software Defined Networks and Applications. Proceedings Article
In: pp. 2115–2116, 2020.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@inproceedings{nokey,
title = {Guest Editorial Introduction to the Special Section on Cognitive Software Defined Networks and Applications.},
author = {Huimin Lu and Pin-Han Ho and Haider Abbas and Trung Q Duong and Ammar Rayes and Kemal Akkaya},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9311497/},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-10-01},
journal = {IEEE Trans. Netw. Sci. Eng.},
volume = {7},
number = {4},
issue = {4},
pages = {2115–2116},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {The papers in this special section focus on cognitive software defined networks and applications. Next generation networks (NGNs) are xpected to utilize internal and external sources of data through information and wireless communication techniques. Particularly, the demand for autonomic network management, orchestrations and optimization is as intense as ever, even though significant research has been needed. Software Defined Networks (SDNs) have been proposed to address QoS requirements for NGNs including high throughput, high mobility, low latency, heterogeneity and scalability. SDN has improved the user experience by providing high-performance communications between the network nodes, reconstructing the network structure, and optimizing the networking coverage, system security, communication latency, etc. The control intelligence is moved out of devices in a logically centralized},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
The papers in this special section focus on cognitive software defined networks and applications. Next generation networks (NGNs) are xpected to utilize internal and external sources of data through information and wireless communication techniques. Particularly, the demand for autonomic network management, orchestrations and optimization is as intense as ever, even though significant research has been needed. Software Defined Networks (SDNs) have been proposed to address QoS requirements for NGNs including high throughput, high mobility, low latency, heterogeneity and scalability. SDN has improved the user experience by providing high-performance communications between the network nodes, reconstructing the network structure, and optimizing the networking coverage, system security, communication latency, etc. The control intelligence is moved out of devices in a logically centralized
17.
Nico Saputro, Samet Tonyali, Abdullah Aydeger, Kemal Akkaya, Mohammad A Rahman, Selcuk Uluagac
A review of moving target defense mechanisms for internet of things applications Journal Article
In: pp. 563–614, 2020.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {A review of moving target defense mechanisms for internet of things applications},
author = {Nico Saputro and Samet Tonyali and Abdullah Aydeger and Kemal Akkaya and Mohammad A Rahman and Selcuk Uluagac},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781119593386.ch24},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-07-15},
pages = {563–614},
publisher = {John Wiley & Sons, Inc.},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {The chapter presents a review of proactive Moving Target Defense (MTD) paradigm and investigates the feasibility and potential of specific MTD approaches for the resourceconstrained Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The aim is not only to provide taxonomy of various MTD approaches but also to advocate MTD techniques in the dynamic network domain in conjunction with the emerging Software Defined Networking (SDN) for more effective proactive IoT defense. The Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT), which subject to more attacks, are identified as two critical IoT domains that can reap from the SDNbased MTD approaches. Finally, the chapter also discusses potential future research challenges of the MTD approaches in the IoT domain.},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The chapter presents a review of proactive Moving Target Defense (MTD) paradigm and investigates the feasibility and potential of specific MTD approaches for the resourceconstrained Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The aim is not only to provide taxonomy of various MTD approaches but also to advocate MTD techniques in the dynamic network domain in conjunction with the emerging Software Defined Networking (SDN) for more effective proactive IoT defense. The Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT), which subject to more attacks, are identified as two critical IoT domains that can reap from the SDNbased MTD approaches. Finally, the chapter also discusses potential future research challenges of the MTD approaches in the IoT domain.
18.
Suat Mercan, Enes Erdin, Kemal Akkaya
Improving sustainability of cryptocurrency payment networks for iot applications Proceedings Article
In: 2020 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC Workshops), pp. 1–6, IEEE, 2020.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@inproceedings{nokey,
title = {Improving sustainability of cryptocurrency payment networks for iot applications},
author = {Suat Mercan and Enes Erdin and Kemal Akkaya},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9145389/},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-06-07},
booktitle = {2020 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC Workshops)},
pages = {1–6},
publisher = {IEEE},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies received a lot of attention recently for their applications in many domains. IoT domain is one of such applications, which can utilize cryptocurrencies for micropayments without compromising their payment privacy. However, long confirmation times of transactions and relatively high fees hinder the adoption of cryptoccurency based micro-payments. The payment channel networks is one of the proposed solutions to address these issue where nodes establish payment channels among themselves without writing on blockchain. IoT devices can benefit from such payment networks as long as they are capable of sustaining their overhead. Payment channel networks pose unique characteristics as far as the routing problem is concerned. Specifically, they should stay balanced to have a sustainable network for maintaining payments for longer times, which is crucial for IoT devices once},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies received a lot of attention recently for their applications in many domains. IoT domain is one of such applications, which can utilize cryptocurrencies for micropayments without compromising their payment privacy. However, long confirmation times of transactions and relatively high fees hinder the adoption of cryptoccurency based micro-payments. The payment channel networks is one of the proposed solutions to address these issue where nodes establish payment channels among themselves without writing on blockchain. IoT devices can benefit from such payment networks as long as they are capable of sustaining their overhead. Payment channel networks pose unique characteristics as far as the routing problem is concerned. Specifically, they should stay balanced to have a sustainable network for maintaining payments for longer times, which is crucial for IoT devices once
19.
Enes Erdin, Mumin Cebe, Kemal Akkaya, Senay Solak, Eyuphan Bulut, Selcuk Uluagac
A Bitcoin payment network with reduced transaction fees and confirmation times Journal Article
In: Computer Networks, vol. 172, pp. 107098, 2020.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {A Bitcoin payment network with reduced transaction fees and confirmation times},
author = {Enes Erdin and Mumin Cebe and Kemal Akkaya and Senay Solak and Eyuphan Bulut and Selcuk Uluagac},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389128619308850},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-05-08},
journal = {Computer Networks},
volume = {172},
pages = {107098},
publisher = {Elsevier},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {The high transaction fees and confirmation times made Bitcoin unfeasible for many applications when the payments are in small amounts and require instant approval. As a result, many other cryptocurrencies were introduced for addressing these issues, but the Bitcoin network is still the most widely used payment system. Without doubt, to benefit from its network of users, there is a need for novel solutions that can successfully address the problems about high transaction fees and transaction verification times. Recently, payment network ideas have been introduced including the Lightning Network (LN) which exploits off-chain bidirectional payment channels between parties. As off-chain links can be configured to perform aggregated transactions at certain intervals without writing to blockchain, this would not only reduce the transaction fees but also decrease the verification times significantly. Nevertheless, LN still},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The high transaction fees and confirmation times made Bitcoin unfeasible for many applications when the payments are in small amounts and require instant approval. As a result, many other cryptocurrencies were introduced for addressing these issues, but the Bitcoin network is still the most widely used payment system. Without doubt, to benefit from its network of users, there is a need for novel solutions that can successfully address the problems about high transaction fees and transaction verification times. Recently, payment network ideas have been introduced including the Lightning Network (LN) which exploits off-chain bidirectional payment channels between parties. As off-chain links can be configured to perform aggregated transactions at certain intervals without writing to blockchain, this would not only reduce the transaction fees but also decrease the verification times significantly. Nevertheless, LN still
20.
Suat Mercan, Enes Erdin, Kemal Akkaya
Improving transaction success rate via smart gateway selection in cryptocurrency payment channel networks Proceedings Article
In: 2020 IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (ICBC), pp. 1–3, IEEE, 2020.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@inproceedings{nokey,
title = {Improving transaction success rate via smart gateway selection in cryptocurrency payment channel networks},
author = {Suat Mercan and Enes Erdin and Kemal Akkaya},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9169458/},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-05-02},
booktitle = {2020 IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (ICBC)},
pages = {1–3},
publisher = {IEEE},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {The last decade has experienced a vast interest in Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies. However, slow confirmation times of transactions hamper their wide adoption for micropayments. The idea of establishing payment channel networks is one of the many proposed solutions to address this scalability. Due to the way these channels are created, both sides have a certain one-way capacity for making transactions. In this paper, we aim to increase the overall success rate of payments by effectively exploiting the fact that end-users are usually connected to the network at multiple points. The evaluation of the proposed method shows that compared to greedy and maxflow-based approaches, we can achieve much higher success rates.},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
The last decade has experienced a vast interest in Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies. However, slow confirmation times of transactions hamper their wide adoption for micropayments. The idea of establishing payment channel networks is one of the many proposed solutions to address this scalability. Due to the way these channels are created, both sides have a certain one-way capacity for making transactions. In this paper, we aim to increase the overall success rate of payments by effectively exploiting the fact that end-users are usually connected to the network at multiple points. The evaluation of the proposed method shows that compared to greedy and maxflow-based approaches, we can achieve much higher success rates.
21.
Ahmet Kurt, Enes Erdin, Mumin Cebe, Kemal Akkaya, A Selcuk Uluagac
LNBot: a covert hybrid botnet on bitcoin lightning network for fun and profit Journal Article
In: pp. 734–755, 2020.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {LNBot: a covert hybrid botnet on bitcoin lightning network for fun and profit},
author = {Ahmet Kurt and Enes Erdin and Mumin Cebe and Kemal Akkaya and A Selcuk Uluagac},
url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-59013-0_36},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-00-00},
booktitle = {Computer Security–ESORICS 2020: 25th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2020, Guildford, UK, September 14–18, 2020, Proceedings, Part II 25},
pages = {734–755},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {While various covert botnets were proposed in the past, they still lack complete anonymization for their servers/botmasters or suffer from slow communication between the botmaster and the bots. In this paper, we propose a new generation hybrid botnet that covertly and efficiently communicates over Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN), called LNBot. LN is a payment channel network operating on top of Bitcoin network for faster Bitcoin transactions with negligible fees. Exploiting various anonymity features of LN, we designed a scalable two-layer botnet which completely anonymize the identity of the botmaster. In the first layer, the botmaster sends commands anonymously to the C&C servers through LN transactions. Specifically, LNBot allows botmasters commands to be sent in the form of surreptitious multihop LN payments, where the commands are encoded with ASCII or Huffman encoding to provide covert},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
While various covert botnets were proposed in the past, they still lack complete anonymization for their servers/botmasters or suffer from slow communication between the botmaster and the bots. In this paper, we propose a new generation hybrid botnet that covertly and efficiently communicates over Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN), called LNBot. LN is a payment channel network operating on top of Bitcoin network for faster Bitcoin transactions with negligible fees. Exploiting various anonymity features of LN, we designed a scalable two-layer botnet which completely anonymize the identity of the botmaster. In the first layer, the botmaster sends commands anonymously to the C&C servers through LN transactions. Specifically, LNBot allows botmasters commands to be sent in the form of surreptitious multihop LN payments, where the commands are encoded with ASCII or Huffman encoding to provide covert
22.
David Gabay, Kemal Akkaya, Mumin Cebe
A privacy framework for charging connected electric vehicles using blockchain and zero knowledge proofs Proceedings Article
In: 2019 IEEE 44th LCN symposium on emerging topics in networking (LCN Symposium), pp. 66–73, IEEE, 2019.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@inproceedings{nokey,
title = {A privacy framework for charging connected electric vehicles using blockchain and zero knowledge proofs},
author = {David Gabay and Kemal Akkaya and Mumin Cebe},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9000682/},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-10-14},
booktitle = {2019 IEEE 44th LCN symposium on emerging topics in networking (LCN Symposium)},
pages = {66–73},
publisher = {IEEE},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {With the increasing interest in connected vehicles along with electrification opportunities, there is an ongoing effort to automate the charging process of electric vehicles (EVs). However, charging EVs takes time and thus in-advance scheduling is needed. This, however, raises privacy concerns since frequent scheduling will expose the charging pattern of the EV to the service providers. Nevertheless, the EV needs to be authenticated which means some information will need to be provided anyway. While there have been many studies to address the problem of privacy-preserving authentication, such solutions will be void if charging payments are made through traditional means. In this paper, we tackle this problem by utilizing distributed applications enabled by Blockchain and smart contracts. We adapt zero-knowledge proofs to Blockchain for enabling privacy-preserving authentication while removing the need for},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
With the increasing interest in connected vehicles along with electrification opportunities, there is an ongoing effort to automate the charging process of electric vehicles (EVs). However, charging EVs takes time and thus in-advance scheduling is needed. This, however, raises privacy concerns since frequent scheduling will expose the charging pattern of the EV to the service providers. Nevertheless, the EV needs to be authenticated which means some information will need to be provided anyway. While there have been many studies to address the problem of privacy-preserving authentication, such solutions will be void if charging payments are made through traditional means. In this paper, we tackle this problem by utilizing distributed applications enabled by Blockchain and smart contracts. We adapt zero-knowledge proofs to Blockchain for enabling privacy-preserving authentication while removing the need for
23.
Enes Erdin, Mumin Cebe, Kemal Akkaya, Eyuphan Bulut, A Selcuk Uluagac
A heuristic-based private bitcoin payment network formation using off-chain links Proceedings Article
In: 2019 IEEE International Conference on Blockchain (Blockchain), pp. 294–301, IEEE, 2019.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@inproceedings{nokey,
title = {A heuristic-based private bitcoin payment network formation using off-chain links},
author = {Enes Erdin and Mumin Cebe and Kemal Akkaya and Eyuphan Bulut and A Selcuk Uluagac},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8946276/},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-07-14},
booktitle = {2019 IEEE International Conference on Blockchain (Blockchain)},
pages = {294–301},
publisher = {IEEE},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {While Bitcoin dominates the market for cryptocurrencies, its use in micropayments is still a challenge due to its long transaction validation times and high fees. Recently, the concept of off-chain payments is introduced that led to the idea of establishing a payment network called Lightning Network (LN). Off-chain links provide the ability to do transactions without writing to Blockchain. However, LN's design still favors fees and is creating hub nodes that defeat the purpose of Blockchain. In addition, it is still not reliable as not all the transactions are guaranteed to be transmitted to their destinations. If current retailers would like to use it, these problems might hinder its adoption. To address this issue, in this paper, we advocate creating a private payment network among a given set of retailers that will serve their business needs, just like the idea of private Blockchains. The goal is to build a pure peer-to-peer topology that},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
While Bitcoin dominates the market for cryptocurrencies, its use in micropayments is still a challenge due to its long transaction validation times and high fees. Recently, the concept of off-chain payments is introduced that led to the idea of establishing a payment network called Lightning Network (LN). Off-chain links provide the ability to do transactions without writing to Blockchain. However, LN's design still favors fees and is creating hub nodes that defeat the purpose of Blockchain. In addition, it is still not reliable as not all the transactions are guaranteed to be transmitted to their destinations. If current retailers would like to use it, these problems might hinder its adoption. To address this issue, in this paper, we advocate creating a private payment network among a given set of retailers that will serve their business needs, just like the idea of private Blockchains. The goal is to build a pure peer-to-peer topology that
24.
Ahmet Kurt, Enes Erdin, Mumin Cebe, Kemal Akkaya, Selcuk Uluagac
LNBot: A Covert Hybrid Botnet on Bitcoin Lightning Network Journal Article
In: CoRR, 2019.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {LNBot: A Covert Hybrid Botnet on Bitcoin Lightning Network},
author = {Ahmet Kurt and Enes Erdin and Mumin Cebe and Kemal Akkaya and Selcuk Uluagac},
url = {https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mumin-Cebe/publication/338138407_LNBot_A_Covert_Hybrid_Botnet_on_Bitcoin_Lightning_Network/links/5e06a95f4585159aa49f828b/LNBot-A-Covert-Hybrid-Botnet-on-Bitcoin-Lightning-Network.pdf},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-00-00},
journal = {CoRR},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {While various covert Botnets were proposed in the past, they still lack complete anonymization for their servers/botmasters or suffer from slower communications among the botmaster and bots. In this paper, we propose LNBot, a new generation hybrid botnet that covertly communicates over Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN) which was recently introduced for faster Bitcoin transactions without writing on the blockchain. LNBot is a scalable two-layer botnet designed to completely anonymize the identity of the botmaster and its communication with multiple command and control (C&C) servers which maintain their own mini botnets by exploiting the various anonymity features of LN. Specifically, LNBot allows any type of commands to be sent instantly by the botmaster to the C&C servers which are ASCII or Huffman-encoded direct payments and forwarded via the LN payment infrastructure. These commands can then be further relayed to bots recruited by each C&C server. We implemented a proof-of-concept on the actual Bitcoin network and analyzed the delay and cost performance of the proposed approaches.},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
While various covert Botnets were proposed in the past, they still lack complete anonymization for their servers/botmasters or suffer from slower communications among the botmaster and bots. In this paper, we propose LNBot, a new generation hybrid botnet that covertly communicates over Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN) which was recently introduced for faster Bitcoin transactions without writing on the blockchain. LNBot is a scalable two-layer botnet designed to completely anonymize the identity of the botmaster and its communication with multiple command and control (C&C) servers which maintain their own mini botnets by exploiting the various anonymity features of LN. Specifically, LNBot allows any type of commands to be sent instantly by the botmaster to the C&C servers which are ASCII or Huffman-encoded direct payments and forwarded via the LN payment infrastructure. These commands can then be further relayed to bots recruited by each C&C server. We implemented a proof-of-concept on the actual Bitcoin network and analyzed the delay and cost performance of the proposed approaches.
25.
Mithat C Kisacikoglu, M Ashiqur Rahman, Kemal Akkaya, Bilal Akin
Emerging cyber-pyhsical power electronics attacks in autonomous electric vehicles Journal Article
In: 2019.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {Emerging cyber-pyhsical power electronics attacks in autonomous electric vehicles},
author = {Mithat C Kisacikoglu and M Ashiqur Rahman and Kemal Akkaya and Bilal Akin},
url = {https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=4121739835939490579&hl=en&oi=scholarr},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-00-00},
booktitle = {Proc. IEEE CyberPELS (CyberPELS)},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {Modern automotive cyber-physical systems utilize numerous smart technologies including sensors, wireless communication, electrified and autonomous operation. An average autonomous vehicle (AV), driving an hour per day, is expected to use massive amount of data every day, some of which will need to be communicated to outside of the AV. Meanwhile, electric vehicles (EVs) have been transforming modern transportation and energy systems, introducing fuel savings and environmental benefits which make them an attractive option for autonomous driving as well. Accordingly, to realize truly autonomous electric vehicles (AEVs), it is crucial that 1) the vehicles interact with the physical world seamlessly through sensors such as cameras, radars, and light detection and ranging sensors, and 2) the vehicles have continuous/seamless broadband connectivity with each other and the supporting infrastructure. Nonetheless, this cyberspace provides numerous opportunities for malicious actors threatening the security of the AEVs and their applications, potentially resulting in accidents, injuries, property/infrastructure damages, even taking human lives. In this paper, we analyze emerging power electronics security challenges and propose a novel preliminary countermeasure approach for the secure and dependable operation of the system. The approach considers developing a lightweight, machine learning-based intrusion detection mechanism to be deployed at the power electronics/microcontorller level such that it can deal with malicious data/control commands initiated by attacks at any level, including software, hardware, or firmware-based attacks.},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Modern automotive cyber-physical systems utilize numerous smart technologies including sensors, wireless communication, electrified and autonomous operation. An average autonomous vehicle (AV), driving an hour per day, is expected to use massive amount of data every day, some of which will need to be communicated to outside of the AV. Meanwhile, electric vehicles (EVs) have been transforming modern transportation and energy systems, introducing fuel savings and environmental benefits which make them an attractive option for autonomous driving as well. Accordingly, to realize truly autonomous electric vehicles (AEVs), it is crucial that 1) the vehicles interact with the physical world seamlessly through sensors such as cameras, radars, and light detection and ranging sensors, and 2) the vehicles have continuous/seamless broadband connectivity with each other and the supporting infrastructure. Nonetheless, this cyberspace provides numerous opportunities for malicious actors threatening the security of the AEVs and their applications, potentially resulting in accidents, injuries, property/infrastructure damages, even taking human lives. In this paper, we analyze emerging power electronics security challenges and propose a novel preliminary countermeasure approach for the secure and dependable operation of the system. The approach considers developing a lightweight, machine learning-based intrusion detection mechanism to be deployed at the power electronics/microcontorller level such that it can deal with malicious data/control commands initiated by attacks at any level, including software, hardware, or firmware-based attacks.
26.
Enes Erdin, Mumin Cebe, Kemal Akkaya, Senay Solak, Eyuphan Bulut, Selcuk Uluagac
Building a private bitcoin-based payment network among electric vehicles and charging stations Proceedings Article
In: 2018 IEEE International Conference on Internet of Things (iThings) and IEEE Green Computing and Communications (GreenCom) and IEEE Cyber, Physical and Social Computing (CPSCom) and IEEE Smart Data (SmartData), pp. 1609–1615, IEEE, 2018.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@inproceedings{nokey,
title = {Building a private bitcoin-based payment network among electric vehicles and charging stations},
author = {Enes Erdin and Mumin Cebe and Kemal Akkaya and Senay Solak and Eyuphan Bulut and Selcuk Uluagac},
url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8726825/},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-07-30},
booktitle = {2018 IEEE International Conference on Internet of Things (iThings) and IEEE Green Computing and Communications (GreenCom) and IEEE Cyber, Physical and Social Computing (CPSCom) and IEEE Smart Data (SmartData)},
pages = {1609–1615},
publisher = {IEEE},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {Mass penetration and market dominance of Electric Vehicles (EVs) are expected in the upcoming years. Due to their frequent charging needs, not only public and private charging stations are being built, but also V2V charging options are considered. This forms a charging network with various suppliers and EV customers which can communicate to schedule charging operations. While an app can be designed to develop matching algorithms for charging schedules, the system also needs a convenient payment method that will enable privacy-preserving transactions among the suppliers and EVs. In this paper, we adopt a Bitcoin-based payment system for the EV charging network payments. However, Bitcoin has a transaction fee which would be comparable to the price of the charging service most of the time and thus may not be attractive to users. High transaction fees can be eliminated by building a payment},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Mass penetration and market dominance of Electric Vehicles (EVs) are expected in the upcoming years. Due to their frequent charging needs, not only public and private charging stations are being built, but also V2V charging options are considered. This forms a charging network with various suppliers and EV customers which can communicate to schedule charging operations. While an app can be designed to develop matching algorithms for charging schedules, the system also needs a convenient payment method that will enable privacy-preserving transactions among the suppliers and EVs. In this paper, we adopt a Bitcoin-based payment system for the EV charging network payments. However, Bitcoin has a transaction fee which would be comparable to the price of the charging service most of the time and thus may not be attractive to users. High transaction fees can be eliminated by building a payment
27.
Kemal Akkaya, Limin Sun
An Attribute-Based Signcryption Scheme to Secure Attribute-Defined Multicast Communications Journal Article
In: Security and Privacy in Communication Networks: 11th International Conference, SecureComm 2015, Dallas, TX, USA, October 26-29, 2015, Revised Selected Papers, vol. 164, pp. 418, 2016.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {An Attribute-Based Signcryption Scheme to Secure Attribute-Defined Multicast Communications},
author = {Kemal Akkaya and Limin Sun},
url = {https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Ac5yCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA418&dq=info:s8eAL_JllWQJ:scholar.google.com&ots=T1-DAJKXFj&sig=DfOtulLJW3VhzDdGWx7qc77XD6M},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-23},
journal = {Security and Privacy in Communication Networks: 11th International Conference, SecureComm 2015, Dallas, TX, USA, October 26-29, 2015, Revised Selected Papers},
volume = {164},
pages = {418},
publisher = {Springer},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {We consider a special type of multicast communications existing in many emerging applications such as smart grids, social networks, and body area networks, in which the multicast destinations are specified by an access structure defined by the data source based on a set of attributes and carried by the multicast message. A challenging issue is to secure these multicast communications to address the prevalent security and privacy concerns, ie, to provide access control, data encryption, and authentication to ensure message integrity and confidentiality. To achieve this objective, we present a signcryption scheme called CPABSC based on Ciphertext-Policy Attribute Based Encryption (CPABE)[2] in this paper. CPABSC provides algorithms for key management, signcryption, and designcryption. It can be used to signcrypt a message/data based on the access rights specified by the message/data itself. A multicast destination can designcrypt a ciphertext if and only if it possesses the attributes required by the access structure of the data. Thus CPABSC effectively defines a multicast group based on the access rights of the data. CPABSC provides collusion attack resistance, message authentication, forgery prevention, and confidentiality. It can be easily applied to secure push-based multicasts where the data is pushed from the source to multiple destinations and pull-based multicasts where the data is downloaded from a repository by multiple destinations. Compared to CPABE, CPABSC combines encryption with signature at a lower computational cost for signcryption and a slightly higher cost in designcryption for signature verification. c Institute for},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
We consider a special type of multicast communications existing in many emerging applications such as smart grids, social networks, and body area networks, in which the multicast destinations are specified by an access structure defined by the data source based on a set of attributes and carried by the multicast message. A challenging issue is to secure these multicast communications to address the prevalent security and privacy concerns, ie, to provide access control, data encryption, and authentication to ensure message integrity and confidentiality. To achieve this objective, we present a signcryption scheme called CPABSC based on Ciphertext-Policy Attribute Based Encryption (CPABE)[2] in this paper. CPABSC provides algorithms for key management, signcryption, and designcryption. It can be used to signcrypt a message/data based on the access rights specified by the message/data itself. A multicast destination can designcrypt a ciphertext if and only if it possesses the attributes required by the access structure of the data. Thus CPABSC effectively defines a multicast group based on the access rights of the data. CPABSC provides collusion attack resistance, message authentication, forgery prevention, and confidentiality. It can be easily applied to secure push-based multicasts where the data is pushed from the source to multiple destinations and pull-based multicasts where the data is downloaded from a repository by multiple destinations. Compared to CPABE, CPABSC combines encryption with signature at a lower computational cost for signcryption and a slightly higher cost in designcryption for signature verification. c Institute for
28.
Chunqiang Hu, Xiuzhen Cheng, Zhi Tian, Jiguo Yu, Kemal Akkaya, Limin Sun
An attribute-based signcryption scheme to secure attribute-defined multicast communications Journal Article
In: pp. 418–437, 2015.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
@article{nokey,
title = {An attribute-based signcryption scheme to secure attribute-defined multicast communications},
author = {Chunqiang Hu and Xiuzhen Cheng and Zhi Tian and Jiguo Yu and Kemal Akkaya and Limin Sun},
url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-28865-9_23},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-00-00},
booktitle = {Security and Privacy in Communication Networks: 11th EAI International Conference, SecureComm 2015, Dallas, TX, USA, October 26-29, 2015, Proceedings 11},
pages = {418–437},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
school = {Florida International University},
abstract = {We consider a special type of multicast communications existing in many emerging applications such as smart grids, social networks, and body area networks, in which the multicast destinations are specified by an access structure defined by the data source based on a set of attributes and carried by the multicast message. A challenging issue is to secure these multicast communications to address the prevalent security and privacy concerns, i.e., to provide access control, data encryption, and authentication to ensure message integrity and confidentiality. To achieve this objective, we present a signcryption scheme called CP_ABSC based on Ciphertext-Policy Attribute Based Encryption (CP_ABE) [2] in this paper. CP_ABSC provides algorithms for key management, signcryption, and designcryption. It can be used to signcrypt a message/data based on the access rights specified by the message/data itself},
keywords = {Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
We consider a special type of multicast communications existing in many emerging applications such as smart grids, social networks, and body area networks, in which the multicast destinations are specified by an access structure defined by the data source based on a set of attributes and carried by the multicast message. A challenging issue is to secure these multicast communications to address the prevalent security and privacy concerns, i.e., to provide access control, data encryption, and authentication to ensure message integrity and confidentiality. To achieve this objective, we present a signcryption scheme called CP_ABSC based on Ciphertext-Policy Attribute Based Encryption (CP_ABE) [2] in this paper. CP_ABSC provides algorithms for key management, signcryption, and designcryption. It can be used to signcrypt a message/data based on the access rights specified by the message/data itself
Citations: 18671
h-index: 54
i10-index: 162