Privacy in Distributed Ledger Transactions
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing distributed ledger systems lack data privacy, as transactions are exposed in the clear, making it difficult to protect sensitive information such as account numbers, financial instruments, and personally identifiable information, especially in systems with and without smart contract support.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a private/permissioned, replicated shared ledger using data encryption and smart contract software architecture, which allows for segmentation of private data by using a 'private' transaction type, modifying block proposal and validation processes to ensure only parties to a transaction can access sensitive information, and storing private data in a local database with a transaction key manager.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If transactions are stored in the clear on a distributed ledger, then transparency and auditability are improved, but data privacy and protection of sensitive information deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments transactions into public transactions (stored in clear on the ledger) and private transactions (encrypted and stored locally). This allows different levels of data visibility - public transactions maintain transparency for auditing, while private transactions protect sensitive information like account numbers and PII through encryption and local storage, resolving the contradiction between transparency and privacy
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements local quality by storing encrypted private transaction data locally on each node's database rather than in the clear on the distributed ledger. Each node maintains a local copy of private transaction data encrypted with their private key, allowing selective access without compromising overall system transparency for public transactions
2Reliability
If all nodes store complete transaction data, then system reliability and consistency are improved, but data processing costs and storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments data storage by maintaining a complete copy of public transactions on all nodes for consistency, while storing only encrypted private transaction data locally on each node. This reduces the quantity of data each node must process and store compared to maintaining all transactions in clear, while still ensuring system reliability through distributed public ledger replication
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by creating encrypted local copies of private transaction data on each node rather than storing all data in clear. This allows nodes to have local copies for processing without the full data volume being stored and processed by all nodes simultaneously, reducing computational and storage overhead
3Object-affected harmful factors
If encryption is applied to all transaction data, then data privacy is improved, but processing complexity and computational overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments encryption application by encrypting only private transaction data with symmetric keys, while leaving public transactions unencrypted for simplicity. This selective encryption approach provides data privacy protection where needed without applying encryption overhead to all data processing operations, reducing overall computational complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces symmetric keys as intermediaries between the encryption layer and data processing layer. These symmetric keys enable efficient encryption and decryption of private transaction data without requiring complex public key operations for every data access, reducing computational overhead while maintaining security
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for privacy in distributed ledger transactions are disclosed. In one embodiment, in an information processing apparatus comprising at least one computer processor for a first node in a computer network comprising a plurality of nodes, a method for generating a key directory in a network comprising a plurality of nodes may include: (1) advertising a public key for a first node to the other nodes; (2) receiving public key information from each of the plurality of nodes; and (3) generating a public key directory that associates each node in the computer network with its public key.