Zero Trust Freight Data Hub Using Blockchain Access Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current communication systems in the freight shipping industry face challenges in sharing confidential data among competing companies while ensuring timely tracking and updates of intermodal containers and project cargo, as existing systems are inefficient due to point-to-point communication, variations in protocols, and geographic distribution, leading to delays and security concerns.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a blockchain-based distributed ledger with encryption technologies to securely share data among multiple parties, where each user's role determines access to specific data attributes, ensuring confidentiality and timely updates through a shipping document control hub and user nodes with cryptographic access layers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If point-to-point communication channels are used for data exchange between shipping parties, then data security is maintained, but communication efficiency and timeliness deteriorate due to multiple individual communication paths and protocol variations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple point-to-point communication channels into a single centralized communication hub that all parties connect to. This eliminates the need for multiple individual communication paths between competing companies while maintaining data security through controlled access policies. The hub consolidates communication efficiency by providing a unified protocol and single point of contact for all data exchanges.
Solution Approach 2:
The communication hub acts as an intermediary between competing shipping parties, enabling data exchange without direct peer-to-peer connections. The hub mediates all communications, enforcing access policies and protocols while preventing parties from needing to establish direct communication channels, thus maintaining security while improving efficiency.
2Productivity
If confidential data is shared among competing companies to coordinate activities, then business objectives are achieved, but data confidentiality deteriorates due to exposure of sensitive information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by providing different levels of data access to different parties based on their roles and needs. Each party receives only the specific data attributes they require for their functions, rather than all confidential data. This enables coordination while maintaining confidentiality by tailoring data visibility to each party's local requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of data accessibility by implementing dynamic access policies that control which data attributes are visible to which parties. Confidentiality is maintained by selectively revealing only necessary data parameters to authorized parties, enabling coordination without exposing sensitive information that isn't needed for specific business functions.
3Loss of time
If a centralized communication hub is implemented to improve communication efficiency, then communication timeliness is improved, but system complexity increases due to protocol standardization requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The communication hub implements universality by establishing a single standardized protocol that all parties use for communication. This multi-functional protocol handles all types of data exchanges between different parties (shippers, carriers, receivers, etc.), eliminating the need for multiple specialized protocols and reducing system complexity while improving communication timeliness.
Data Source
AI summary
Presented herein are systems and methods of securely sharing data from multiple sources with different client terminals. A server may establish an electronic document for defining a transaction. The electronic document may have data fields. Each data field may be from a client terminal. The server may identify encryption keys to encrypt the corresponding data fields included in the electronic document. The server may distribute the encryption keys across the client terminals in accordance with an access control policy. The access control policy may specify access permissions for a client terminal to each of the plurality of data fields based on a role of the client terminal in the transaction. The server may provide, to each client terminal with access to the data fields in the electronic document via the encryption keys distributed in accordance with the access control policy.