BS-ADS: A Blockchain-based Secure Anonymous Data Sharing Framework for Security & Privacy in Cloud-IoT Environments

BS-ADS: A Blockchain-based Secure Anonymous Data Sharing Framework for Security & Privacy in Cloud-IoT Environments | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article BS-ADS: A Blockchain-based Secure Anonymous Data Sharing Framework for Security & Privacy in Cloud-IoT Environments Attiq Ur Rehman, Songfeng Lu, Muhammad Usman, Zaheer Ahmad Gondal, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8916981/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The integration of Cloud computing with the Internet of Things (IoT) has greatly increased the scale and complexity of sharing data in Cloud-based Internet of Things (CIoT) environments. However, this growth brings challenges with regard to security of sensitive data, privacy, access control management, and accountability. In this paper, we propose Block-chain Enabled Secure and Anonymous Data Sharing (BS-ADS), which is a framework that tries to overcome these challenges by combining Aggregate Key Searchable Encryption (AKSE) and blockchain-based auditing, edge-assisted revocation and accountable anonymity. BS-ADS eliminates the need for centralized trust by using blockchain to store encrypted metadata such as ciphertext hash and revocation identifier. This provides trust and transparency which are decentralized without revealing plaintext data. The frame-work includes the support of linkable ring signatures and zero-knowledge proofs to maintain user privacy while allowing for traceability and therefore allowing for the detection of malicious behavior to take place without the need of the loss of anonymity. Furthermore, edge nodes are responsible for the encryption up-dates in case of revocation, and they remove the computational load from the resource-constrained IoT devices. The performance of BS-ADS was evaluated in terms of encryption overhead, ciphertext size, and the communication cost. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of BS-ADS in terms of encryption overhead, which reduces the encryption overhead by 30–40%, while guaranteeing efficient keyword-based search and data retrieval. Additionally, it offers a 20–30% reduction in communication overhead in multi-user scenarios, maintaining constant communication cost per operation (O(1)). The system is also proven secure against selective chosen-ciphertext attacks (SIND-CCA), replay attacks, Sybil attacks, and man-in-the-middle attacks. This work introduces a novel architecture for secure, scalable, and accountable data sharing in CIoT, incorporating efficient revocation mechanisms and privacy-preserving search. BS-ADS provides significant improvements in efficiency, security, and privacy, offering a promising solution for large-scale CIoT applications. Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing Blockchain Cloud-IoT Secure Data Sharing Aggregate Key Searchable Encryption (AKSE) Privacy-Preserving Search Edge-Assisted Revocation Accountability Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files BSADSSupplementaryMaterials.rar BSADSSupplementaryData.xlsx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8916981","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":596451014,"identity":"31b0383f-7151-4741-886c-50dd930d5a15","order_by":0,"name":"Attiq Ur Rehman","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Huazhong University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Attiq","middleName":"Ur","lastName":"Rehman","suffix":""},{"id":596451015,"identity":"c7b42e29-f977-4b23-b3b0-8041ab4ee994","order_by":1,"name":"Songfeng Lu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Huazhong University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Songfeng","middleName":"","lastName":"Lu","suffix":""},{"id":596451016,"identity":"8059d214-a24f-47e8-9280-7cccf0f2cf7c","order_by":2,"name":"Muhammad Usman","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Beihang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Muhammad","middleName":"","lastName":"Usman","suffix":""},{"id":596451017,"identity":"4d969f9f-7df0-4083-879f-bcaaca33f66f","order_by":3,"name":"Zaheer Ahmad Gondal","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Huazhong University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zaheer","middleName":"Ahmad","lastName":"Gondal","suffix":""},{"id":596451018,"identity":"d59dd989-d35a-40fb-8c9b-7f615ca981f6","order_by":4,"name":"Muhammad Kamran","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Wuhan University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Muhammad","middleName":"","lastName":"Kamran","suffix":""},{"id":596451019,"identity":"31aeab0d-80ac-4fdd-b129-7108b788ea6f","order_by":5,"name":"Abdullah Y. 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