International Research Journal of Multidisciplinary Scope (IRJMS), 2024; 5(3):1086-1095
Original Article | ISSN (O): 2582-631X DOI: 10.47857/irjms.2024.v05i03.0925
Blockchain-based File Sharing System – A Hybrid Approach
Ritik Tiwari, Viswanathan V*, Rajarajeswari S
School of Computer Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. *Corresponding Author’s
Email: viswanathan.v@[Link]
Abstract
File sharing has become a common practice in our daily lives, but there are many concerns regarding security and
privacy for various reasons. To address these concerns, researchers are exploring different storage and sharing
options. Blockchain technology, with its decentralized and immutable nature, provides an appealing solution. The
proposed hybrid file-sharing system offers a unique approach to combining the benefits of centralized user
management and decentralized storage. By utilizing Ethereum smart contracts for access control, the system ensures
secure and transparent sharing of files. Moreover, using the Inter Planetary File System for decentralized storage
ensures high availability and scalability. This concept attempts to solve the accessibility, privacy, and security issues
related to centralized and decentralized systems by utilizing the advantages of both models. The centralized system
will help manage user authentication and authorization, making it easier for individuals unfamiliar with blockchain
technology to interact with the system. On the other hand, IPFS provides decentralized storage with data redundancy
and reliability. Access control is implemented through Ethereum smart contracts, which restrict file access to
unauthorized users. Overall, this paper demonstrates how blockchain technology, with a hybrid model, can create a
user-friendly, secure file-sharing environment immune to common vulnerabilities in centralized systems.
Keywords: Blockchain, Decentralized and Centralized, Ethereum, File-Sharing, IPFS.
Introduction
The digital era has completely changed the way we working together on projects to getting enjoyment.
work, play, and communicate with each other. In File-sharing services are now necessary for
our increasingly linked world, data has become an exchanging creative works, keeping priceless
essential part of our life. Data storage is shifting memories, and sharing papers with co-workers.
drastically from local servers to cloud servers. As There are so many file-sharing applications; some
we all know, data is necessary to us, so ensuring the have failed, and some are still working. One is Bit-
privacy and security of data is the bare minimum. Torrent, which is still alive and used. Several
Here, blockchain comes into the picture; unidentified nodes (people) can send and receive
blockchain, an immutable distributed ledger, files with a peer-to-peer methodology (1).
provides decentralized storage for the data, which However, the increasing dependence on
will be more secure than a centralized storage centralized file-sharing platforms has highlighted
server. File-sharing platforms built on blockchain serious issues with accessibility, privacy, and
have a lot of potential in various applications. In the security. Large volumes of user data are frequently
healthcare industry, blockchain technology stored on centralized platforms, leaving them open
ensures data integrity and privacy while securely to censorship, hacking, and abuse. In addition, they
allowing institutions to share patient details. In the run the danger of data loss and inaccessibility due
finance sector, it can make it easier for private to centralized storage, which exposes them to
financial records and sensitive papers to be single points of failure. These constraints create an
exchanged securely. Also in the legal Sector, increasingly pressing problem, centralized
without jeopardising the data, it allows for the safe increasingly pressing problem: centralized systems
and un-hackable exchange of contracts, case files, raise concerns due to their worrying vulnerabilities
and legal papers. in the more data-driven world of today, even while
Nowadays, we all share our data daily for different they offer user-friendly interfaces and widespread
tasks we all do for our daily necessities. Easy file acceptance.
transfers are now a part of everything we do, from To address these file-sharing issues, this study
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
license ([Link] which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
(Received 08th April 2024; Accepted 14th July 2024; Published 30th July 2024)
Tiwari et al., Vol 5 | Issue 3
explores blockchain technology. With its problems in technology development and network
fundamental values of decentralization, expansion. They suggest using an IPFS-based
immutability, and transparency, blockchain blockchain data storage model to store the data.
presents a viable way forward for file sharing and Here, miners deposit the data in the IPFS network
storage that is safer, more dependable, and more and embed the IPFS hash, which comes as output
user-friendly. The proposed work explores the into the block, which will reduce the data size of the
possibilities for a secure, open, and decentralized blockchain. They also applied this same
file-sharing environment by utilizing the methodology to Bitcoin, which resulted in a
distributed nature of blockchains and the strength compression of 0.0817 with good performance of
of smart contracts to address the drawbacks of synchronization speed of nodes and security.
centralized systems. Huang et al., (4) proposed a secure file-sharing
Smita Athanere et al., (1) proposed Blockchain- system based on IPFS and Blockchain, highlighting
Based Hierarchical Semi-decentralized Approach the issue of recording transactions and the
using IPFS for Secure and Efficient Data Sharing. It limitation of storing large files on the blockchain.
is concerned about the security of the data stored There are some technologies like IPFS and Swarm,
on the cloud by multiple providers when accessing but there are some inefficiencies in data sharing.
the data from third-party vendors. Some traditional This research paper proposed a new technique:
ways are used to access the data, which are secure file sharing with an IPFS proxy for
compromiseable. As a solution, this paper provides distributed access control and group key
a way to use blockchain and IPFS to store data management. The system will fill some
securely. Blockchain holds the property of fundamental gaps, enhance security, and manage
immutability and transparency, which offers a access control efficiently, creating a flexible group
strong base for data storage. This system has a two- for membership by just connecting the IPFS with
level key management technique that encrypts the the blockchain via proxy. Hen et al., (5) provides an
file before hashing. This solution lowers the improved system based on integrating IPFS and
transmission and compute costs and blockchain. This will promise a solution that
simultaneously reduces the single-point failures. enhances the performance and reliability of peer-
This also protects data in the cloud environments to-peer file-sharing systems. They are addressing
against malicious and dishonest cloud providers. the throughput limitations of individual users in
Vimal et al., (2) proposed a new cluster P2P file- IPFS. They aim to improve data availability,
sharing system model based on IPFS and security reliability, and storage using zig-zag-based
blockchain technology. It is stated that the system storage models and content service providers. This
collapsed due to the egoistic nodes in the scheme also effectively removes these significant
distributed peer-to-peer environments. Some challenges and offers a potential breakthrough in
incentive-based mechanisms have been introduced decentralized file systems.
to reduce these kinds of collapses. This paper will There is an exponential data volume growth by
integrate proximity awareness and blocks, so most blockchain-based applications face
trustworthiness into the file transfer process to many challenges. This is because of the immutable
enhance the P2P file sharing efficiency via IPFS and and append-only nature of the blockchain, which
Blockchain. Blockchain challenges are discussed, increases the size of the blockchain and creates
and solutions with IPFS are provided. A P2P-based access issues. R. Kumar et al., (6) came up with the
technology that provides resource sharing through IPFS-based blockchain storage model, where the
hashed files across nodes is called IPFS. They transaction data is stored in the IPFS system so that
integrated Filecoin with the IPFS to incentivize the size of the blockchain will be reduced. IPFS
minors and service providers and ensure high generates its hash, so the data will be secured,
throughput file transfers. Zheng et al., (3) proposed which is content-addressed storage, which also
an innovative IPFS-based storage model for contrasts with traditional location-addressed
blockchain, and there are some concerns about techniques. It promises to enhance transaction
scalability because of the popularity of the access in blockchain and can be developed using
blockchain as the Bitcoin blockchain ledger grew to Python, Flask, Anaconda, and IPFS technologies.
200GB at that time. The limitation will create The solution proposed by Nizamuddin et al., (7) is a
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decentralized approach to document sharing and based auditing and independent execution. Using
version control, using Ethereum smart contracts digital signatures and commitment mechanisms
and IPFS for storage. The proposed framework enhances and improves regulatory compliance. The
automates interactions among multiple proposed strategy focuses on verifiability and fine-
stakeholders and emphasizes security and grained access control, showing its value and utility
truthfulness without the need for centralized through evaluation.
intermediaries. The solution contributes to the Previous works have addressed several research
existing literature on blockchain-based solutions gaps in storage and access control. Some works
for collaborative document management and offers have been decentralized, some centralized, and
practical insights into implementation and security others have been a combination. These works have
considerations. The smart contract code is posted mainly focused on using techniques like RSA and
on GitHub for transparency and accessibility. ABE. However, there still needs to be a gap to be
Almasian et al., (8) talk about blockchain filled regarding user interaction with Web3.0
technology having some issues in terms of systems and secure file transferring model. To
scalability and user anonymity; this emerges as a overcome the issues faced by current systems, this
potential solution for implementing an access paper proposes a hybrid blockchain-based file-
control setup. The flexibility and effectiveness of sharing system in which user management,
controlling and user revocation may be lacking in consisting of authentication and authorization, is
standard encryption techniques. The suggested handled by a centralized system. On the other hand,
solution combines attribute-based encryption for security and privacy, the decentralized system-
(ABE) with blockchain technology to ensure secure, based IPFS network will hold the file secure and
fault-tolerance, and decentralized file-sharing. The incorruptible, and the Ethereum blockchain smart
method helps in effective key management and contracts manage all the access control. So, this
provides quick user revocation without requiring system solves the major problems faced by existing
extra cost by adding cipher keys into access platforms.
polynomials. Also, the usage of ABE protects user
anonymity while allowing access control to be
Methodology
enforced. This paper proposes a hybrid concept of sharing
Security, trust, and transparency must be improved files, combining centralized and decentralized
in existing trusted third-party (TTP) - based data systems. This idea is proposed to break the barrier
sharing platforms. Naz et al., (9) proposed an IPFS of users not shifting to Web3.0 technology because
and blockchain-based data-sharing platform to it is new, hard to learn, or takes some real money.
overcome these shortcomings. This approach As we know, it’s hard for some rookie users to make
guarantees trust, security, and transparency using a crypto wallet, connect it to the system, and pay
the Ethereum blockchain for access management some gas (amount) to use the system; they lack
and IPFS for decentralized storage. Data integrity is knowledge or not proper resources and no central
improved with RSA authentication and Watson regularities such as banks or government, so
analyzer for review validation. By merging they’re afraid of losing money. So, this system will
decentralized storage, blockchain, encryption, and use centralized user management, consisting of
incentive systems, this research closes the gap and user authorization and authentication, the same as
provides enhanced security, access control, and many Web2.0 systems or websites. Now, the
data authenticity. Advanced data delegation decentralized system will do its primary work,
solutions are required by Web 3.0 and blockchain storing the file in the IPFS model, and then the
technologies that are constantly evolving. While access control and the IPFS hash will be saved in the
ABE is the backbone of the current methods, Ethereum smart contract for better security and
effective cipher text processing still needs to be privacy. Figure 1 shows the proposed system
included. Gao et al., (10) address the limitations of architecture.
attribute-based cipher text transformation (ABCT) In short, this centralization will remove the need
and give customized data transfer solutions for for users to interact directly with the Web3.0
Web 3.0 that enhance current ABE-based solutions' modules and manage the gas fees from their side.
capabilities. Smart contracts guarantee blockchain- This will allow users to interact smoothly with
Web3.0 or blockchain technologies without being
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shown so many complex things. This model will comparison of features involved in the file sharing
also be beneficial for accommodating users between existing systems and proposed.
unfamiliar with the Web 3.0 world. Table 1 shows
Figure 1: Proposed System Architecture
Table 1: Comparison between the Existing System and the Proposed System
Access Centralized
References Blockchain Encryption IPFS
Control Database
Approach A (11) ✔ ✗ ✗ ✔ ✗
Approach B (12) ✔ ✗ ✔ ✗ ✗
Approach C (13) ✔ ✗ ✔ ✗ ✗
Approach D (14) ✔ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✔
Proposed Approach ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
System Structure and Integration
The blockchain layer, the data storage layer, and authenticate credentials and use OAuth, it also uses
the user interface layer are the three main parts of NextAuth.
the suggested system. The blockchain layer uses Data Storage: To improve redundancy and
decentralised ledger technology to guarantee data accessibility, decentralised storage solutions
security and integrity. Within the blockchain layer, employ IPFS. We can connect the IPFS to a number
access control is managed via smart contracts. of web libraries and frameworks and upload the file
Large volumes of files that need to be shared among there.
users are stored on IPFS. We can do user interface Block chain: Solidity can be used to create smart
layer authentication and authorization using contracts, and [Link] and [Link] tools can be
databases and fundamental web technologies. used to communicate with contracts.
Among the technologies incorporated are: By integrating these technologies, the system is
User Interface: Developed with [Link] to offer a able to achieve great efficiency and scalability while
fluid and quick user experience. In order to simultaneously taking use of blockchain's security
features.
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System Model (Directed Acyclic Graph), and each node will
User Management: This will be managed by the represent the chunk and point to its parent. This
centralized system, where users can log in or helps track the significant content. The hash will be
register with GitHub, Google, Email, or any other stored in the Distributed Hash Table for better
provider. This is helpful for the user to have easy routing and retrieval. When the hash of the file is
interaction with the system. searched in the IPFS pool, the data will be fetched
File Management: Here, a user will upload the file, from the multiple nodes where it’s stored.
and that file will be uploaded to the IPFS nodes of Access Control: The user has to provide access to
multiple networks. IPFS uses content addressing, another user who wants to share the file so that the
which will split the content and produce the hash IPFS hash and the authorized users' access are
for them; it also ensures that the same piece of stored in the smart contract of the Ethereum
content has the same hash every time so that the blockchain. There will be minimal chances of data
problem of data redundancy will not occur. These leaks, which will be almost negligible. Only
small chunks will be stored in Merkle DAG authorized users can access the specified file.
Figure 2: Sequence Diagram for Uploading Process
Workflow: Users authenticate the system with generated randomly; it will map with the smart
email, Google, or GitHub, as every website provides contract and be stored in the database. Now, when
old methods. The user will upload the file, enter the the user hits that access code and searches the file,
email addresses of the other users who want to the mapped contract will get the email list, and if
share the file, and ensure they all have an account the email of that user is present, then only the file
in the system. The file will be uploaded, and an will be visible to that user; otherwise, it is not
access code will be visible to the user. Meanwhile, accessible. Figure 2 and figure 3 show the sequence
in the backend, the file will be stored in the IPFS, get of uploading and downloading process.
the hash from there, and then the access list and the Technology Stack: The proposed model uses the
hash will be saved in the Ethereum smart contract, technologies whose use cases have been described
and the gas (amount) will be deducted from the in the subsection. [Link] is a React (JavaScript
system's owner. Then, the access code will be Library) framework from which we can build full-
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stack applications. This framework has many file information to record all the transactions that
optimization features and additional things that the user did in the system. Ethereum is a network
can simplify developer life when creating these of computers worldwide that follows a set of rules.
bulky and complex applications. Typescript is a This is the foundation for the communities,
language that is similar to JavaScript. There are applications, and digital assets anyone can build
many rules about how different values can be used and use. It is like a blockchain database, which
and how the program should run. Tailwind CSS is a stores data as smart contracts. Solidity is a
library that is used to style the component, so all statically typed curly-braces programming
the styling of the system is done by this library. language designed to develop Ethereum network
MongoDB is a type of database that stores data in a smart contracts. This system uses solidity to make
document format. It is a scalable and flexible smart contracts, which can be helpful in access
database solution; this is a NoSQL database used in control.
this system to store the user information and some
Figure 3: Sequence Diagram for Downloading Process
System Creation Testing Phase: To make sure system components
Design Phase: First, we must choose an effective interact correctly, unit and integration tests were
blockchain on which to quickly deploy our smart conducted.
contracts and establish the schema for storing user Evaluation Criteria
information. Determine how to connect IPFS The system's assessment was done using:
technology for file storage. Select the user interface Security: In order to safeguard our system from
framework that best suits this application. unauthorised access and data breaches, we
Development Phase: Use [Link] to create a front- assessed the risk involved in system development.
end user interface, and carefully plan the UI/UX. Performance: We evaluated our system based on
Integrate the IPFS technology into the user a number of measures, including system
interface to enable seamless file uploading. Put into throughput, bandwidth, and operating speed as
practice the Ethereum blockchain's smart contracts well as data retrieval time.
for access control with stability. Scalability: We tested the system under various
loads to make sure it can withstand more usage
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without degrading performance, as well as the cost addressed storage in IPFS. In addition, the system
of transactions and execution when handling a big displayed reliability and scalability, managed high
user base. file transfer volumes, and supported a growing user
base. As IPFS and blockchain are decentralized, the
Results and Discussion system is immune to censorship attempts and a
The proposed hybrid file-sharing model’s point of failure. So users could rely on the system to
implementation demonstrated positive efficiency, share the files safely. Security audits are required
security, and usability outcomes. The approach to find some vulnerability; performance metrics
effectively addressed the shortcomings of like transaction latency, upload/download speeds,
traditional centralized file-sharing platforms by and network stability can only be examined via
merging decentralized file storage and access real-world simulation. Only after the system is
control with centralized user management. Users public in the beta version can we find and fix the
can share files with this system without interacting major issues and check the system's performance.
directly with complex blockchain technologies. The system uses a smart contract, and while
Using centralized user management improves user uploading the contract on the Ethereum
accessibility and reduces entrance barriers. Data blockchain, we will need a specific amount of gas;
redundancy and fault tolerance were ensured via 3,000,000 is the maximum limit set by the creator.
IPFS for file storage, reducing the possible data loss We have observed two types of gas consumption:
compared to a centralized storage server. Smart transaction and execution. In Figure 4, we have
contracts on Ethereum were used to create access described how much gas is used per function; as
control mechanisms, which provide high security shown in the figure, the upload function required
and privacy protections. Files could only be more gas as it had to put the data into the
accessed by authorized users, and the permissions blockchain, which took more time to create a block.
were immutably and transparently enforced on the This gas varies on the size of the file. In Figure 5, the
blockchain. Using this strategy, data breaches and number of ethers is loaded in the account, and the
unauthorized access could be reduced. Also, the usage of the ether is in the form of gas. All the data,
user experience has been enhanced by quick transaction cost, execution cost, and the overall gas
retrieval and verification of files by the content- amount are stored in Table 2.
Table 2: Smart Contract Cost Test
Functions Transaction Gas Execution Gas Actual Gas
Uploading 594165 502275 3.4 * 10-12
Downloading 541234 452832 1.1 * 10-12
Figure 4: Gas Consumption for the Smart Contract
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Figure 5: Ethers for Gas Consumption
Figure 6: Performance Metrics Report with 22k Users in 15 Seconds, Generated by [Link]
Figure 7: Performance Metrics Report with 2500 Users in 1 Minute, Generated by [Link]
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We have conducted performance tests based on the development studies may focus on enhancing
user using the system simultaneously. In figure 6, decentralized file-sharing systems' scalability,
we can see that at 00.12 seconds, 2000 users are performance, and additional use cases. Everything
using the system, and the waiting time is approx. looked at; the proposed hybrid file-sharing system
65ms, which means when they load the system, it is a significant step towards unlocking blockchain
will take 65ms to show the results to them. We technology’s full potential to change data sharing
performed the test many times and found that the and storage paradigms completely.
average response time is 78ms when 226132 users
Abbreviations
access the system for 15 seconds and 55ms when
IPFS: Interplanetary File System
2500 users access the system simultaneously for 1
P2P: Peer-to-Peer
minute, which is a good benchmark. The results are
ABE: Attribute Based Encryption
given in Figure 6 and Figure 7.
TTP: Trusted Third-party
Comparing the hybrid file-sharing system to
DAG: Directed Acyclic Graph
traditional systems, notable performance gains
DHT: Distributed Hash Table
were seen. Because we are using IPFS, this system
has a lower failure rate while uploading files. With Acknowledgement
the previous way, the database may shut down due Nil.
to overloading or an unknown problem. Because of Author Contributions
our system's optimised IPFS integration, which Ritik Tiwari contributed to the design and
retrieves files without requiring a database query, implementation of the research, while
data retrieval is substantially faster. By increasing Viswanathan V and Rajarajeswari S contributed to
system throughput, the hybrid solution effectively the analysis of the results and the writing of the
handled more users and data flows at once. manuscript.
The following strategies should be taken into Conflict of Interest
account by experts when developing blockchain-
The authors declare that there is no conflict of
based file-sharing systems, according to our
interest.
findings:
Integrate IPFS: To improve data security, Ethics Approval
accessibility, and redundancy, think about utilising Not applicable.
IPFS technology for decentralised storage. Funding
Smart Contracts: Use smart contracts to automate
No funding received by any government or private
authentication procedures and manage access
concern.
control.
Performance Optimisation: To guarantee References
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