Ethereum Blockchain Based Framework For University Networks Security Assurance

This work introduced the fundamental principles of the blockchain with focus on its potential application for the education sector.The work explained how this new technology may both reshape institutional norms and empower learners with emphasis on the information security.Main concepts were presented,literature in blockchain technology and smart contracts application in different fields of study including education was reviewed.The novelty of this work is: a)in suggesting a scenario for the application of the blockchain in an education context,based on the current state of technology development and deployment,in spite the application of blockchain-based products in education is still in infancy;b)in numerical analysis of practicability of blockchain technology for security assurance of University networks which contains variety of sensitive data,i.e.students and employee biometrical data or health records;and in comparison of security parameters of common and blockchain approaches by utilizing standardized evaluation of such parameters.Application of private blockchain framework for a University networks in order to improve its information security level was suggested in this thesis.Private blockchain technology is a step away from common approaches in University network information security toward new technology that brings high auditability and immutability to the records and trust between networks that utilize Ethereum blockchain technology.Also,main benefits of private Ethereum network over Main public Ethereum network are covered.The analysis of security parameters of the suggested private blockchain system from perspective of unified security standard in order to bring objective security level comparison of approaches was performed.Various security level evaluation methods were observed.The main contribution of this part is in utilizing worldwide adopted standard ISO/IEC 15804 for security level evaluation.This standard considers not only most frequent vulnerabilities but information system as a whole in hierarchal way.Unlike most work in this area,in order to improve calculation accuracy,the weighting algorithm of Analytic Hierarchy Process was applied to evaluate a contribution of every group of vulnerabilities to the whole vulnerability score of a system.Blockchain system showed to be 15.3% more secure in sense of ISO/IEC 15408 standard than a common database.The abstract private blockchain model was built in order to measure its throughput and latency parameters.Two main clients,namely Geth and Parity,for the Ethereum network were analyzed in private deployment and then compared.Performance results shows that Parity client has been up to 90 percent faster than Geth client.Both clients showed decent result of latency and throughput,so both could be adopted for the purpose of suggested private blockchain framework for university networks.The results showed that the main goal to prove that blockchain-based framework for universities information system is able to hold confidential information about students,teachers and activities like payments or certificate issuance in secure and immutable way was achieved.