ConsortiumSec: Blockchain-based Distributed Security Framework for Consortium Applications

In consortium applications, multiple organizations collaborate on a common goal. The complex consortium structure makes it a significant challenge to achieve the goals of both secure collaboration and preserving each organization's data confidentiality. Existing security architectures are insufficient to tackle the above challenge. This paper proposes ConsortiumSec, a blockchain-based two-layer distributed security architecture. ConsortiumSec leverages disruptive blockchain technologies to systematically address the security issues in consortium applications, including consortium membership management, access control, secure storage, governance policy management, and privacy preservation. The Hyperledger Fabric-based prototype implementation demonstrates the proposed architecture not only integrates the organization's existing security mechanisms but also ensures a secure collaborative environment. The case study based on a real-world consortium application demonstrates the effectiveness of ConsortiumSec.