Collaborative Research: OAC Core: Zero-trust and Traceable Data Infrastructure for Health IoT Data Storage and Sharing

Personal data, such as health IoT data, nowadays is possessed by service providers’ central data centers, and individuals do not have ultimate control over the data they produce. This is a growing concern due to the sensitive nature of such user-generated data. The proposed Web 3.0-based data infrastructure is an evolution of the current centralized data ecosystem, aiming to address some of its limitations and challenges.

This project aims to build a zero-trust and traceable data-sharing ecosystem Web3DB, where data ownership and control are returned to the individuals who generate the data. In Web3DB, the data owners will be able to define the data access and sharing policy that will be enforced in a zero-trust manner, i.e., without relying on central coordinators or infrastructure.

During such access control, users’ identities and credentials will always remain encrypted for their privacy. Access and usage of individuals’ data will be logged securely such that only the data owners can monitor the access and usage of their data. Furthermore, this research will support the development of a diverse cohort of Ph.D., undergraduate, and high school students.

Underlying the proposed work is a novel zero-trust infrastructure for traceable data sharing. The project will entail research activities that result in (1) novel decentralized/self-sovereign identity management and access control with such decentralized identities in a zero-trust manner, (2) new theories and capabilities in the field of accountable data sharing as well as secure and privacy-preserving data auditing, and (3) new theories for optimizing distributed storage network and new understandings of the capacity of layer 2 blockchain extensions in the non-cryptocurrency blockchain.

The research outcomes will be implemented and integrated into the prototype system of the Web 3.0 database the team has been building. Realistic simulations and real-world emulations will be conducted. The project outcomes include (1) open-source projects of Web3DB, a zero-trust traceable data sharing infrastructure, (2) an actively maintained and growing Web 3.0-based zero-trust data sharing ecosystem with multiple institutions, and (3) education materials for teaching and learning research components of Web3DB among undergraduate and high school students.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.