Blockchain-based Privacy-Preserving Public Key Searchable Encryption with Strong Traceability

Public key searchable encryption (PKSE) scheme allows data users to search over encrypted data. To identify illegal users, many traceable PKSE schemes have been proposed. However, existing schemes cannot trace the keywords which illegal users searched and protect users' privacy simultaneously. In some practical applications, tracing both illegal users' identities and the keywords which they searched is quite important to against the abuse of data. It is a challenge to bind users' identities and keywords while protecting their privacy. Moreover, existing traceable PKSE schemes do not consider the unforgeability and immutability of trapdoor query records, which can lead to the occurrence of frame-up and denying. In this paper, to solve these problems, we propose a blockchain-based privacy-preserving PKSE with strong traceability (BP3KSEST) scheme. Our scheme provides the following features: (1) authorized users can authenticate to trapdoor generation center and obtain trapdoors without releasing their identities and keywords; (2) when data users misbehave in the system, the trusted third party (TTP) can trace both their identities and the keywords which they searched; (3) trapdoor query records are unforgeable; (4) trapdoor query records are immutable because records are stored in blockchain. Notably, this scheme is suitable to the scenarios where privacy must be considered, e.g., electronic health record (EHR). We formalize both the definition and security model of our BP3KSEST scheme, and present a concrete construction. Furthermore, the security of the proposed scheme is formally proven. Finally, the implementation and evaluation are conducted to analyze its efficiency.