Explainable AI is an emerging field that aims to address how black-box decisions of AI systems are made, by attempting to understand the steps and models involved in this decision-making. Explainable AI in manufacturing is supposed to deliver predictability, agility, and resiliency across targeted manufacturing apps. In this context, large amounts of data, which can be of high sensitivity and various formats need to be securely and efficiently handled. This paper proposes an Asset Management and Secure Sharing solution tailored to the Explainable AI and Manufacturing context in order to tackle this challenge. The proposed asset management architecture enables an extensive data management and secure sharing solution for industrial data assets. Industrial data can be pulled, imported, managed, shared, and tracked with a high level of security using this design. This paper describes the solution´s overall architectural design and gives an overview of the functionalities and incorporated technologies of the involved components, which are responsible for data collection, management, provenance, and sharing as well as for overall security.

Explainable AI is an emerging field that aims to address how black-box decisions of AI systems are made, by attempting to understand the steps and models involved in this decision-making. Explainable AI in manufacturing is supposed to deliver predictability, agility, and resiliency across targeted manufacturing apps. In this context, large amounts of data, which can be of high sensitivity and various formats need to be securely and efficiently handled. This paper proposes an Asset Management and Secure Sharing solution tailored to the Explainable AI and Manufacturing context in order to tackle this challenge. The proposed asset management architecture enables an extensive data management and secure sharing solution for industrial data assets. Industrial data can be pulled, imported, managed, shared, and tracked with a high level of security using this design. This paper describes the solution´s overall architectural design and gives an overview of the functionalities and incorporated technologies of the involved components, which are responsible for data collection, management, provenance, and sharing as well as for overall security.

As a result of globalization, the COVID-19 pandemic and the migration of data to the cloud, the traditional security measures where an organization relies on a security perimeter and firewalls do not work. There is a shift to a concept whereby resources are not being trusted, and a zero-trust architecture (ZTA) based on a zero-trust principle is needed. Adapting zero trust principles to networks ensures that a single insecure Application Protocol Interface (API) does not become the weakest link comprising of Critical Data, Assets, Application and Services (DAAS). The purpose of this paper is to review the use of zero trust in the security of a network architecture instead of a traditional perimeter. Different software solutions for implementing secure access to applications and services for remote users using zero trust network access (ZTNA) is also summarized. A summary of the author s research on the qualitative study of “Insecure Application Programming Interface in Zero Trust Networks” is also discussed. The study showed that there is an increased usage of zero trust in securing networks and protecting organizations from malicious cyber-attacks. The research also indicates that APIs are insecure in zero trust environments and most organization are not aware of their presence.

The world has seen a quick transition from hard devices for local storage to massive virtual data centers, all possible because of cloud storage technology. Businesses have grown to be scalable, meeting consumer demands on every turn. Cloud computing has transforming the way we do business making IT more efficient and cost effective that leads to new types of cybercrimes. Securing the data in cloud is a challenging task. Cloud security is a mixture of art and science. Art is to create your own technique and technologies in such a way that the user should be authenticated. Science is because you have to come up with ways of securing your application. Data security refers to a broad set of policies, technologies and controls deployed to protect data application and the associated infrastructure of cloud computing. It ensures that the data has not been accessed by any unauthorized person. Cloud storage systems are considered to be a network of distributed data centers which typically uses cloud computing technologies like virtualization and offers some kind of interface for storing data. Virtualization is the process of grouping the physical storage from multiple network storage devices so that it looks like a single storage device.Storing the important data in the cloud has become an essential argument in the computer territory. The cloud enables the user to store the data efficiently and access the data securely. It avoids the basic expenditure on hardware, software and maintenance. Protecting the cloud data has become one of the burdensome tasks in today’s environment. Our proposed scheme "Certificateless Compressed Data Sharing in Cloud through Partial Decryption" (CCDSPD) makes use of Shared Secret Session (3S) key for encryption and double decryption process to secure the information in the cloud. CC does not use pairing concept to solve the key escrow problem. Our scheme provides an efficient secure way of sharing data to the cloud and reduces the time consumption nearly by 50 percent as compared to the existing mCL-PKE scheme in encryption and decryption process.Distributed Cloud Environment (DCE) has the ability to store the da-ta and share it with others. One of the main issues arises during this is, how safe the data in the cloud while storing and sharing. Therefore, the communication media should be safe from any intruders residing between the two entities. What if the key generator compromises with intruders and shares the keys used for both communication and data? Therefore, the proposed system makes use of the Station-to-Station (STS) protocol to make the channel safer. The concept of encrypting the secret key confuses the intruders. Duplicate File Detector (DFD) checks for any existence of the same file before uploading. The scheduler as-signs the work of generating keys to the key manager who has less task to complete or free of any task. By these techniques, the proposed system makes time-efficient, cost-efficient, and resource efficient compared to the existing system. The performance is analysed in terms of time, cost and resources. It is necessary to safeguard the communication channel between the entities before sharing the data. In this process of sharing, what if the key manager’s compromises with intruders and reveal the information of the user’s key that is used for encryption. The process of securing the key by using the user’s phrase is the key concept used in the proposed system "Secure Storing and Sharing of Data in Cloud Environment using User Phrase" (S3DCE). It does not rely on any key managers to generate the key instead the user himself generates the key. In order to provide double security, the encryption key is also encrypted by the public key derived from the user’s phrase. S3DCE guarantees privacy, confidentiality and integrity of the user data while storing and sharing. The proposed method S3DCE is more efficient in terms of time, cost and resource utilization compared to the existing algorithm DaSCE (Data Security for Cloud Environment with Semi Trusted Third Party) and DACESM (Data Security for Cloud Environment with Scheduled Key Managers).For a cloud to be secure, all of the participating entities must be secure. The security of the assets does not solely depend on an individual s security measures. The neighbouring entities may provide an opportunity to an attacker to bypass the user s defences. The data may compromise due to attacks by other users and nodes within the cloud. Therefore, high security measures are required to protect data within the cloud. Cloudsim allows to create a network that contains a set of Intelligent Sense Point (ISP) spread across an area. Each ISPs will have its own unique position and will be different from other ISPs. Cloud is a cost-efficient solution for the distribution of data but has the challenge of a data breach. The data can be compromised of attacks of ISPs. Therefore, in OSNQSC (Optimized Selection of Nodes for Enhanced in Cloud Environment), an optimized method is proposed to find the best ISPs to place the data fragments that considers the channel quality, distance and the remaining energy of the ISPs. The fragments are encrypted before storing. OSNQSC is more efficient in terms of total upload time, total download time, throughput, storage and memory consumption of the node with the existing Betweenness centrality, Eccentricity and Closeness centrality methods of DROPS (Division and Replication of Data in the Cloud for Optimal Performance and Security).

The escalating visibility of secure direct object reference (IDOR) vulnerabilities in API security, as indicated in the compilation of OWASP Top 10 API Security Risks, highlights a noteworthy peril to sensitive data. This study explores IDOR vulnerabilities found within Android APIs, intending to clarify their inception while evaluating their implications for application security. This study combined the qualitative and quantitative approaches. Insights were obtained from an actual penetration test on an Android app into the primary reasons for IDOR vulnerabilities, underscoring insufficient input validation and weak authorization methods. We stress the frequent occurrence of IDOR vulnerabilities in the OWASP Top 10 API vulnerability list, highlighting the necessity to prioritize them in security evaluations. There are mitigation recommendations available for developers, which recognize its limitations involving a possibly small and homogeneous selection of tested Android applications, the testing environment that could cause some inaccuracies, and the impact of time constraints. Additionally, the study noted insufficient threat modeling and root cause analysis, affecting its generalizability and real-world relevance. However, comprehending and controlling IDOR dangers can enhance Android API security, protect user data, and bolster application resilience.

The escalating visibility of secure direct object reference (IDOR) vulnerabilities in API security, as indicated in the compilation of OWASP Top 10 API Security Risks, highlights a noteworthy peril to sensitive data. This study explores IDOR vulnerabilities found within Android APIs, intending to clarify their inception while evaluating their implications for application security. This study combined the qualitative and quantitative approaches. Insights were obtained from an actual penetration test on an Android app into the primary reasons for IDOR vulnerabilities, underscoring insufficient input validation and weak authorization methods. We stress the frequent occurrence of IDOR vulnerabilities in the OWASP Top 10 API vulnerability list, highlighting the necessity to prioritize them in security evaluations. There are mitigation recommendations available for developers, which recognize its limitations involving a possibly small and homogeneous selection of tested Android applications, the testing environment that could cause some inaccuracies, and the impact of time constraints. Additionally, the study noted insufficient threat modeling and root cause analysis, affecting its generalizability and real-world relevance. However, comprehending and controlling IDOR dangers can enhance Android API security, protect user data, and bolster application resilience.

The escalating visibility of secure direct object reference (IDOR) vulnerabilities in API security, as indicated in ⁠ the compilation of OWASP Top 10 API Security Risks, highlights a noteworthy peril to sensitive data. This study explores IDOR vulnerabilities found within Android APIs, intending to clarify their inception while evaluating their implications for application security. This study combined the qualitative and quantitative approaches. Insights were obtained from an actual penetration test on an Android app into the ⁠ primary reasons for IDOR vulnerabilities, underscoring insufficient input validation and weak authorization methods. We stress the frequent occurrence of IDOR vulnerabilities in the OWASP Top 10 API ⁠ vulnerability list, highlighting the necessity to prioritize them in security evaluations. There are mitigation recommendations available for developers, which recognize its limitations involving a possibly small and homogeneous selection ⁠ of tested Android applications, the testing environment that could cause some inaccuracies, and the impact of time constraints. Additionally, the study noted insufficient threat modeling and root ⁠ cause analysis, affecting its generalizability and real-world relevance. However, comprehending and controlling IDOR dangers can enhance Android API ⁠ security, protect user data, and bolster application resilience.

The escalating visibility of secure direct object reference (IDOR) vulnerabilities in API security, as indicated in ⁠ the compilation of OWASP Top 10 API Security Risks, highlights a noteworthy peril to sensitive data. This study explores IDOR vulnerabilities found within Android APIs, intending to clarify their inception while evaluating their implications for application security. This study combined the qualitative and quantitative approaches. Insights were obtained from an actual penetration test on an Android app into the ⁠ primary reasons for IDOR vulnerabilities, underscoring insufficient input validation and weak authorization methods. We stress the frequent occurrence of IDOR vulnerabilities in the OWASP Top 10 API ⁠ vulnerability list, highlighting the necessity to prioritize them in security evaluations. There are mitigation recommendations available for developers, which recognize its limitations involving a possibly small and homogeneous selection ⁠ of tested Android applications, the testing environment that could cause some inaccuracies, and the impact of time constraints. Additionally, the study noted insufficient threat modeling and root ⁠ cause analysis, affecting its generalizability and real-world relevance. However, comprehending and controlling IDOR dangers can enhance Android API ⁠ security, protect user data, and bolster application resilience.

Java-based applications are widely used by companies, government agencies, and financial institutions. Every day, these applications process a considerable amount of sensitive data, such as people’s credit card numbers and passwords. Research has found that the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), an essential component for executing Java-based applications, stores data in memory for an unknown period of time even after the data are no longer used. This mismanagement of JVM puts all the data, sensitive or non-sensitive, in danger and raises a huge concern to all Java-based applications globally. This problem has serious implications for many “secure” applications that employ Javabased frameworks or libraries with a severe security risk of having sensitive data that attackers can access after the data are thought to be cleared. This paper presents a prototype of a secure Java API we design through an undergraduate student research project. The API is implemented using direct Byte buffer so that sensitive data are not managed by JVM garbage collection. We also implement the API using obfuscation so that data are encrypted. Using an initial experimental evaluation, the proposed secure API can successfully protect sensitive data from being accessed by malicious users.

Wearables Security 2022 - Interoperability remains one of the biggest challenges facing healthcare organizations today. Despite the advancements made through digital transformation and API that allow increased interoperability, patients still have to contend with a different patient portal for each provider they visit. Several health systems are unable to successfully exchange EHR data. API transfer and consolidate patient information including medical history and treatment records across the disparate healthcare systems. Mobile apps use API to gather data from various medical wearables and add the data to a patient’s health record. However, API exposes application logic and sensitive data information giving patient data a window to the World Wide Web and has thus increasingly become a target for attackers. As the need for tighter API security grows, managing APIs becomes more important than ever. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview and discuss research questions that can aid in understanding and building the knowledge base on API data integration and interoperability.

Predictive Security Metrics - With the emergence of Zero Trust (ZT) Architecture, industry leaders have been drawn to the technology because of its potential to handle a high level of security threats. The Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) is paving the path for a security industrial revolution by eliminating location-based implicant access and focusing on asset, user, and resource security. Software Defined Perimeter (SDP) is a secure overlay network technology that can be used to implement a Zero Trust framework. SDP is a next-generation network technology that allows network architecture to be hidden from the outside world. It also hides the overlay communication from the underlay network by employing encrypted communications. With encrypted information, detecting abnormal behavior of entities on an overlay network becomes exceedingly difficult. Therefore, an automated system is required. We proposed a method in this paper for understanding the normal behavior of deployed polices by mapping network usage behavior to the policy. An Apache Spark collects and processes the streaming overlay monitoring data generated by the built-in fabric API in order to do this mapping. It sends extracted metrics to Prometheus for storage, and then uses the data for machine learning training and prediction. The cluster-id of the link that it belongs to is predicted by the model, and the cluster-ids are mapped onto the policies. To validate the legitimacy of policy, the labeled polices hash is compared to the actual polices hash that is obtained from blockchain. Unverified policies are notified to the SDP controller for additional action, such as defining new policy behavior or marking uncertain policies.

Network Security Architecture - As a result of globalization, the COVID-19 pandemic and the migration of data to the cloud, the traditional security measures where an organization relies on a security perimeter and firewalls do not work. There is a shift to a concept whereby resources are not being trusted, and a zero-trust architecture (ZTA) based on a zero-trust principle is needed. Adapting zero trust principles to networks ensures that a single insecure Application Protocol Interface (API) does not become the weakest link comprising of Critical Data, Assets, Application and Services (DAAS). The purpose of this paper is to review the use of zero trust in the security of a network architecture instead of a traditional perimeter. Different software solutions for implementing secure access to applications and services for remote users using zero trust network access (ZTNA) is also summarized. A summary of the author’s research on the qualitative study of “Insecure Application Programming Interface in Zero Trust Networks” is also discussed. The study showed that there is an increased usage of zero trust in securing networks and protecting organizations from malicious cyber-attacks. The research also indicates that APIs are insecure in zero trust environments and most organization are not aware of their presence.

Network Coding - Precise binary code vulnerability detection is a significant research topic in software security. Currently, the majority of software is released in binary form, and the corresponding vulnerability detection approaches for binary code are desired. Existing deep learning-based detection techniques can only detect binary code vulnerabilities but cannot precisely identify the types of vulnerabilities. This paper proposes a Binary code-based Hybrid neural network for Multiclass Vulnerability Detection, dubbed BHMVD. BHMVD generates binary slices according to the control dependence and data dependence of library/API function calls, and then extracts syntax features from binary slices to generate type slices, which can help identify vulnerability types. This paper uses a hybrid neural network of CNN-BLSTM to extract vulnerability features from binary and type slices. The former extracts local features, while the latter extracts global features. Experiment results on 19 types of vulnerabilities show that BHMVD is effective for binary code-based multiclass vulnerability detection, and using a hybrid neural network can improve detection ability.

Metadata Discovery Problem - Collaborative software development platforms like GitHub have gained tremendous popularity. Unfortunately, many users have reportedly leaked authentication secrets (e.g., textual passwords and API keys) in public Git repositories and caused security incidents and finical loss. Recently, several tools were built to investigate the secret leakage in GitHub. However, these tools could only discover and scan a limited portion of files in GitHub due to platform API restrictions and bandwidth limitations. In this paper, we present SecretHunter, a real-time large-scale comprehensive secret scanner for GitHub. SecretHunter resolves the file discovery and retrieval difficulty via two major improvements to the Git cloning process. Firstly, our system will retrieve file metadata from repositories before cloning file contents. The early metadata access can help identify newly committed files and enable many bandwidth optimizations such as filename filtering and object deduplication. Secondly, SecretHunter adopts a reinforcement learning model to analyze file contents being downloaded and infer whether the file is sensitive. If not, the download process can be aborted to conserve bandwidth. We conduct a one-month empirical study to evaluate SecretHunter. Our results show that SecretHunter discovers 57\% more leaked secrets than state-of-the-art tools. SecretHunter also reduces 85\% bandwidth consumption in the object retrieval process and can be used in low-bandwidth settings (e.g., 4G connections).

Malware Classification - Due to the constant updates of malware and its variants and the continuous development of malware obfuscation techniques. Malware intrusions targeting Windows hosts are also on the rise. Traditional static analysis methods such as signature matching mechanisms have been difficult to adapt to the detection of new malware. Therefore, a novel visual detection method of malware is proposed for first-time to convert the Windows API call sequence with sequential nature into feature images based on the Gramian Angular Field (GAF) idea, and train a neural network to identify malware. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method. For the binary classification of malware, the GAF visualization image of the API call sequence is compared with its original sequence. After GAF visualization, the classification accuracy of the classic machine learning model MLP is improved by 9.64%, and the classification accuracy of the deep learning model CNN is improved by 4.82%. Furthermore, our experiments show that the proposed method is also feasible and effective for the multi-class classification of malware.

Information Reuse and Security - New malware increasingly adopts novel fileless techniques to evade detection from antivirus programs. Process injection is one of the most popular fileless attack techniques. This technique makes malware more stealthy by writing malicious code into memory space and reusing the name and port of the host process. It is difficult for traditional security software to detect and intercept process injections due to the stealthiness of its behavior. We propose a novel framework called ProcGuard for detecting process injection behaviors. This framework collects sensitive function call information of typical process injection. Then we perform a fine-grained analysis of process injection behavior based on the function call chain characteristics of the program, and we also use the improved RCNN network to enhance API analysis on the tampered memory segments. We combine API analysis with deep learning to determine whether a process injection attack has been executed. We collect a large number of malicious samples with process injection behavior and construct a dataset for evaluating the effectiveness of ProcGuard. The experimental results demonstrate that it achieves an accuracy of 81.58\% with a lower false-positive rate compared to other systems. In addition, we also evaluate the detection time and runtime performance loss metrics of ProcGuard, both of which are improved compared to previous detection tools.

Malware Analysis and Graph Theory - The rapidly increasing malware threats must be coped with new effective malware detection methodologies. Current malware threats are not limited to daily personal transactions but dowelled deeply within large enterprises and organizations. This paper introduces a new methodology for detecting and discriminating malicious versus normal applications. In this paper, we employed Ant-colony optimization to generate two behavioural graphs that characterize the difference in the execution behavior between malware and normal applications. Our proposed approach relied on the API call sequence generated when an application is executed. We used the API calls as one of the most widely used malware dynamic analysis features. Our proposed method showed distinctive behavioral differences between malicious and non-malicious applications. Our experimental results showed a comparative performance compared to other machine learning methods. Therefore, we can employ our method as an efficient technique in capturing malicious applications.

Malware Analysis and Graph Theory - With the dramatic increase in malicious software, the sophistication and innovation of malware have increased over the years. In particular, the dynamic analysis based on the deep neural network has shown high accuracy in malware detection. However, most of the existing methods only employ the raw API sequence feature, which cannot accurately reflect the actual behavior of malicious programs in detail. The relationship between API calls is critical for detecting suspicious behavior. Therefore, this paper proposes a malware detection method based on the graph neural network. We first connect the API sequences executed by different processes to build a directed process graph. Then, we apply Bert to encode the API sequences of each process into node embedding, which facilitates the semantic execution information inside the processes. Finally, we employ GCN to mine the deep semantic information based on the directed process graph and node embedding. In addition to presenting the design, we have implemented and evaluated our method on 10,000 malware and 10,000 benign software datasets. The results show that the precision and recall of our detection model reach 97.84\% and 97.83\%, verifying the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Intellectual Property Security - In order to meet the needs of intellectual property protection and controlled sharing of scientific research sensitive data, a mechanism is proposed for security protection throughout “transfer, store and use” process of sensitive data which based on blockchain. This blockchain bottom layer security is reinforced. First, the encryption algorithm used is replaced by the national secret algorithm and the smart contract is encapsulated as API at the gateway level. Signature validation is performed when the API is used to prevent illegal access. Then the whole process of data up-chain, storage and down-chain is encrypted, and a mechanism of data structure query and data query condition construction based on blockchain smart is provided to ensure that the data is “usable and invisible”. Finally, data access control is ensured through role-based and hierarchical protection, and the blockchain base developed has good extensibility, which can meet the requirement of sensitive data security protection in scientific research filed and has broad application prospects.

In order to meet the needs of intellectual property protection and controlled sharing of scientific research sensitive data, a mechanism is proposed for security protection throughout “transfer, store and use” process of sensitive data which based on blockchain. This blockchain bottom layer security is reinforced. First, the encryption algorithm used is replaced by the national secret algorithm and the smart contract is encapsulated as API at the gateway level. Signature validation is performed when the API is used to prevent illegal access. Then the whole process of data up-chain, storage and down-chain is encrypted, and a mechanism of data structure query and data query condition construction based on blockchain smart is provided to ensure that the data is “usable and invisible”. Finally, data access control is ensured through role-based and hierarchical protection, and the blockchain base developed has good extensibility, which can meet the requirement of sensitive data security protection in scientific research filed and has broad application prospects.

The rapidly increasing malware threats must be coped with new effective malware detection methodologies. Current malware threats are not limited to daily personal transactions but dowelled deeply within large enterprises and organizations. This paper introduces a new methodology for detecting and discriminating malicious versus normal applications. In this paper, we employed Ant-colony optimization to generate two behavioural graphs that characterize the difference in the execution behavior between malware and normal applications. Our proposed approach relied on the API call sequence generated when an application is executed. We used the API calls as one of the most widely used malware dynamic analysis features. Our proposed method showed distinctive behavioral differences between malicious and non-malicious applications. Our experimental results showed a comparative performance compared to other machine learning methods. Therefore, we can employ our method as an efficient technique in capturing malicious applications.

With the dramatic increase in malicious software, the sophistication and innovation of malware have increased over the years. In particular, the dynamic analysis based on the deep neural network has shown high accuracy in malware detection. However, most of the existing methods only employ the raw API sequence feature, which cannot accurately reflect the actual behavior of malicious programs in detail. The relationship between API calls is critical for detecting suspicious behavior. Therefore, this paper proposes a malware detection method based on the graph neural network. We first connect the API sequences executed by different processes to build a directed process graph. Then, we apply Bert to encode the API sequences of each process into node embedding, which facilitates the semantic execution information inside the processes. Finally, we employ GCN to mine the deep semantic information based on the directed process graph and node embedding. In addition to presenting the design, we have implemented and evaluated our method on 10,000 malware and 10,000 benign software datasets. The results show that the precision and recall of our detection model reach 97.84\% and 97.83\%, verifying the effectiveness of our proposed method.

To keep up with the continuous modernization of web applications and to facilitate their development, a large number of new features are introduced to the web platform every year. Although new web features typically undergo a security review, issues affecting the privacy and security of users could still surface at a later stage, requiring the deprecation and removal of affected APIs. Furthermore, as the web evolves, so do the expectations in terms of security and privacy, and legacy features might need to be replaced with improved alternatives. Currently, this process of deprecating and removing features is an ad-hoc effort that is largely uncoordinated between the different browser vendors. This causes a discrepancy in terms of compatibility and could eventually lead to the deterrence of the removal of an API, prolonging potential security threats. In this paper we propose a progressive security mechanism that aims to facilitate and standardize the deprecation and removal of features that pose a risk to users’ security, and the introduction of features that aim to provide additional security guarantees.

KYC or Know Your Customer is the procedure to verify the individuality of its consumers & evaluating the possible dangers of illegitimate trade relations. A few problems with the existing KYC manual process are that it is less secure, time-consuming and expensive. With the advent of Blockchain technology, its structures such as consistency, security, and geographical diversity make them an ideal solution to such problems. Although marketing solutions such as KYC-chain.co, K-Y-C. The legal right to enable blockchain-based KYC authentication provides a way for documents to be verified by a trusted network participant. This project uses an ETHereum based Optimised KYC Block-chain system with uniform A-E-S encryption and compression built on the LZ method. The system publicly verifies a distributed encryption, is protected by cryptography, operates by pressing the algorithm and is all well-designed blockchain features. The suggested scheme is a novel explanation based on Distributed Ledger Technology or Blockchain technology that would cut KYC authentication process expenses of organisations & decrease the regular schedule for completion of the procedure whilst becoming easier for clients. The largest difference in the system in traditional methods is the full authentication procedure is performed in just no time for every client, regardless of the number of institutions you desire to be linked to. Furthermore, since DLT is employed, validation findings may be securely distributed to consumers, enhancing transparency. Based on this method, a Proof of Concept (POC) is produced with Ethereum's API, websites as endpoints and the android app as the front office, recognising the viability and efficacy of this technique. Ultimately, this strategy enhances consumer satisfaction, lowers budget overrun & promotes transparency in the customer transport network.

Python continues to be one of the most popular programming languages and has been used in many safety-critical fields such as medical treatment, autonomous driving systems, and data science. These fields put forward higher security requirements to Python ecosystems. However, existing studies on machine learning systems in Python concentrate on data security, model security and model privacy, and just assume the underlying Python virtual machines (PVMs) are secure and trustworthy. Unfortunately, whether such an assumption really holds is still unknown.This paper presents, to the best of our knowledge, the first and most comprehensive empirical study on the security of CPython, the official and most deployed Python virtual machine. To this end, we first designed and implemented a software prototype dubbed PVMSCAN, then use it to scan the source code of the latest CPython (version 3.10) and other 10 versions (3.0 to 3.9), which consists of 3,838,606 lines of source code. Empirical results give relevant findings and insights towards the security of Python virtual machines, such as: 1) CPython virtual machines are still vulnerable, for example, PVMSCAN detected 239 vulnerabilities in version 3.10, including 55 null dereferences, 86 uninitialized variables and 98 dead stores; Python/C API-related vulnerabilities are very common and have become one of the most severe threats to the security of PVMs: for example, 70 Python/C API-related vulnerabilities are identified in CPython 3.10; 3) the overall quality of the code remained stable during the evolution of Python VMs with vulnerabilities per thousand line (VPTL) to be 0.50; and 4) automatic vulnerability rectification is effective: 166 out of 239 (69.46%) vulnerabilities can be rectified by a simple yet effective syntax-directed heuristics.We have reported our empirical results to the developers of CPython, and they have acknowledged us and already confirmed and fixed 2 bugs (as of this writing) while others are still being analyzed. This study not only demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach, but also highlights the need to improve the reliability of infrastructures like Python virtual machines by leveraging state-of-the-art security techniques and tools.