CC BY
17
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF BLOCKCHAIN-BASED DECENTRALIZED FILE-SHARING SYSTEM USING IPFS TECHNOLOGY
Muradov Camal Dilqsm, Supervisor: Rahimova Nazila, Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University, Baku, Azerbaijan
E-mail: camal1muradov@gmail.com
Abstract. As decentralized file-sharing systems provide a censorship-resistant and more secure way of sharing files they have become more popular. However, there are some challenges that should be tackled like security vulnerabilities and limited scalability. By combining the blockchain and InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) technology as key enablers we can build decentralized file-sharing systems that address these challenges. This thesis proposes a decentralized blockchain-based filesharing system that employs IPFS technology to provide a decentralized, efficient, and secure way of file-sharing. On the backend side, Python Flask framework has been used and React.js has been used for the frontend. And we discuss the system design, and implementation and evaluate the performance and security of our system.
Key words: blockchain, IPFS, decentralized file-sharing systems, blockchain-based file-sharing web application, censorship-resistant file sharing
1. Introduction
As decentralized file-sharing systems provide a censorship-resistant and more secure way of sharing files they have become more popular. However, there are some challenges that should be tackled like security vulnerabilities and limited scalability. By combining the blockchain and InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) technology as key enablers we can build decentralized file-sharing systems that address these challenges. In this thesis, a blockchain-based file-sharing system that employs IPFS as an off-chain solution is proposed to provide efficient, decentralized, secure file-sharing. The application is developed using Python Flask framework in the backend and React.js for the frontend. Our system is decentralized by design so there is no centralized system of control so that we ensure the privacy and security of the shared files. The application's main architecture has two integral parts: the blockchain and IPFS as an off-chain solution. While the blockchain component has the responsibility of managing the smart contracts of the system that define conditions and rules for sharing files, the IPFS component is employed as an off-chain solution.
The application uses IPFS for fast file-sharing and distributed storage and fast, while blockchain technology ensures the immutability and security of the shared files.
ВЕСТНИК НАУКИ И ТВОРЧЕСТВА
2. System Design
Our application employs IPFS nodes and blockchain technology to offer an efficient and secure way of sharing files. As the system is decentralized, we do not have any central point of control which ensures privacy and security for the shared files. The architecture of our application has two integral components that make decentralized file-sharing possible: blockchain and IPFS technologies. While IPFS is used as an off-chain solution for storing and getting the files, blockchain controls the conditions and rules for shared files. Our system is efficient and secure by design. So that, when a file is shared by a user it is stored on the IPFS network, and its hash is added to the registry. The file-sharing mechanism is designed to be secure and efficient.
3. Implementation and Evaluation
The application is developed using Python Flask framework in the backend and React.js for the front-end user interface. Our setup included a network of a few nodes running on different virtual machines to simulate a decentralized environment. The results of our experiment showed that our application is effective in terms of efficiency, scalability, and security. Our system handled several users successfully and files with good performance. Moreover, the proposed application was effective against attacks such as data tampering.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we have discussed the system design, implementation, and evaluation of a blockchain-based decentralized file-sharing system that uses IPFS to provide secure, decentralized, and efficient file-sharing. Our application is developed using Python Flask framework on the backend side and React.js for the frontend, and it is designed to be decentralized, ensuring the privacy and security of the shared files. The security and performance of the system can be further improved in the future, and integrating other technologies like sophisticated encryption methods can be explored.
References:
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2. Uddin, Md Nasim, et al. "Secure File Sharing System Using Blockchain, IPFS and PKI Technologies." 2021 5th International Conference on Electrical Information and Communication Technology (EICT). IEEE, 2021.
3. Chen, Y., Li, H., Li, K. and Zhang, J., 2017, December. An improved P2P file system scheme based on IPFS and Blockchain. In 2017 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data) (pp. 2652-2657). IEEE.
4. Cui, Shujie, Muhammad Rizwan Asghar, and Giovanni Russello. "Towards blockchain-based scalable and trustworthy file sharing." 2018 27th International Conference on Computer Communication and Networks (ICCCN). IEEE, 2018.
