Private Ledger Acceptance Verification for External Auditing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current distributed ledger technology (DLT) systems lack the ability to provide practical supply chain traceability due to issues with data capture, privacy concerns, and managing inter-actor cooperation, making it difficult to verify the provenance and sustainability of products.
Innovation Solution
A method is introduced where data and corresponding acknowledgements are notarized on a private ledger, with verification information stored in a persistent storage, allowing independent verification by an auditing node not participating in the ledger, using cryptographic techniques to ensure data integrity and compliance with policies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If data is stored on a private ledger for supply chain traceability, then data privacy is protected, but independent verification by external auditors becomes impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments verification information from the private ledger data by storing only cryptographic hashes and verification metadata in persistent storage, while keeping the actual supply chain data private on the ledger. This allows auditors to verify data integrity through the stored hashes without accessing the confidential underlying data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces persistent storage as an intermediary layer between the private ledger and external auditors. This intermediary stores verification information that enables third-party validation without requiring direct access to the private ledger, thus mediating between privacy protection and verification needs.
2Reliability
If cryptographic verification mechanisms are implemented for supply chain data, then data integrity is ensured, but computational resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs cryptographic hashing and verification information preparation in advance when data is written to the private ledger, storing the verification artifacts in persistent storage. This preliminary action eliminates the need for complex real-time cryptographic computations during verification, reducing computational resource consumption when auditors verify supply chain data.
3Reliability
If a private ledger is used for supply chain data sharing, then data security is improved, but accessibility for external verification deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts verification information from the private ledger and stores it separately in persistent storage. This extraction allows external auditors to access and verify supply chain data without needing access to the private ledger itself, thus improving accessibility while maintaining the security benefits of the private ledger architecture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables reliable verification of data and acknowledgements, facilitating supply chain traceability with low resource consumption, allowing consumers to track product provenance and sustainability effectively.
Implementation Method 1
All information in the ledger typically uses cryptography techniques to ensure consistency, integrity, security and permissions using cryptographic keys, encryption and digital signatures.
Implementation Method 2
storing corresponding digests for versions of the private ledger into a persistent storage, the digest of each of the versions being representative of the appending of the corresponding blocks of the version
Data Source
AI summary
A solution is proposed. The solution is performed under the control of a computing system (1051, 1052, 115, 125). The solution comprises allowing (4051, 4052) a first node (1051) and a second node (1052) of the computing system to participate to a private ledger (110) adapted to take a plurality of versions over time each resulting from appending one or more blocks thereto. The solution comprises appending (410) a first one of the blocks to the private ledger by the first node, the first block being authenticated by the first node and comprising data to be shared with the second node. The solution comprises appending (425) a second one of the blocks to the private ledger by the second node, the second block being authenticated by the second node and comprising an acknowledgement indicative of an acceptance of the data of the first block by the second node according to one or more policies defining a semantic of the acceptance. The solution comprises storing corresponding digests for the versions of the private ledger into a persistent storage, the digest of each of the versions being representative of the appending of the corresponding blocks of the version. The solution comprises disclosing verification information and the policies to an auditing node not participating to the private ledger in response to a verification request. The verification information may comprise a last one of the versions of the ledger. Alternatively, the verification information may comprise a ledger portion comprising the data and the acknowledgement, and corresponding inclusion proofs of the ledger portion in the versions of the private ledger. Thus, the auditing node is allowed to verify the acceptance of the data by the second node according to the verification information, the policies and the digests retrieved from the persistent storage.