DistProv-Data Provenance in Distributed Cloud for Secure Transfer of Digital Assets with Ethereum Blockchain using ZKP

Abstract

The importance and usage of the distributed cloud is increasing rapidly over a traditionally centralized cloud for the storing and exchanging of digital assets between untrusted parties in many business sectors. Storing the digital assets in the distributed cloud is considered superior to traditional cloud computing in terms of environmentally friendly, cost, security and other technical dimensions. In this article, a contemporary architecture DistProv is proposed where an open source distributed cloud IPFS is used to store and transfer the digital assets between the consignor and consignee. These two are untrusted parties exchanging sensitive documents secured by cryptographic algorithms with permission-based access verified by ethereum smart contracts using zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) and simultaneously publishing the provenance data about the digital asset as a transaction on the blockchain. This article also discusses on verifying the integrity of the digital assets and authentication of the consignor and thus preserving a strong CIA triad.