In this paper, we investigate how to design a security architecture of a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution, denoted as Secure Virtual Premise (SVP), for collaborative and distributed AI engineering using AI artifacts and Machine Learning (ML) pipelines. Artifacts are re-usable software objects which are a) tradeable in marketplaces, b) implemented by containers, c) offer AI functions as microservices, and, d) can form service chains, denoted as AI pipelines. Collaborative engineering is facilitated by the trading and (re-)using artifacts and, thus, accelerating the AI application design.

The security architecture of the SVP is built around the security needs of collaborative AI engineering and uses a proxy concept for microservices. The proxy shields the AI artifact and pipelines from outside adversaries as well as from misbehaving users, thus building trust among the collaborating parties. We identify the security needs of collaborative AI engineering, derive the security challenges, outline the SVP’s architecture, and describe its security capabilities and its implementation, which is currently in use with several AI developer communities. Furthermore, we evaluate the SVP’s Technology Readiness Level (TRL) with regard to collaborative AI engineering and data security.

Digital marketplaces were created recently to accelerate the delivery of applications and services to customers. Their appealing feature is to activate and dynamize the demand, supply, and development of digital goods, applications, or services. By being an intermediary between producer and consumer, the primary business model for a marketplace is to charge the producer with a commission on the amount paid by the consumer. However, most of the time, the commission is dictated by the marketplace facilitator itself and creates an imbalance in value distribution, where producer and consumer sides suffer monetarily. In order to eliminate the need for a centralized entity between the producer and consumer, a blockchain-based decentralized digital marketplace concept was introduced. It provides marketplace actors with the tools to perform business transactions in a trusted manner and without the need for an intermediary. In this work, we provide a survey on Telecommunication Services Marketplaces (TSMs) which employ blockchain technology as the main trust enabling entity in order to avoid any intermediaries. We provide an overview of scientific and industrial proposals on the blockchain-based online digital marketplaces at large, and TSMs in particular. We consider in this study the notion of telecommunication services as any service enabling the capability for information transfer and, increasingly, information processing provided to a group of users by a telecommunications system. We discuss the main standardization activities around the concepts of TSMs and provide particular use-cases for the TSM business transactions such as SLA settlement. Also, we provide insights into the main foundational services provided by the TSM, as well as a survey of the scientific and industrial proposals for such services. Finally, a prospect for future developments is given. Author

Renewable energy sources are becoming increasingly important as a substitute for fossil energy production. However, distributed renewable energy production faces several challenges regarding trading and management, such as inflexible pricing models and inaccurate green consumption information. A decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) electricity marketplace may address these challenges. It enables prosumers to market their self-produced electricity. However, such a marketplace needs to guarantee that the transactions follow market rules and government regulations, cannot be manipulated, and are consistent with the generated electricity. One of the ways to provide these guarantees is to leverage blockchain technology.

This work describes a decentralized blockchain-based P2P energy marketplace addressing privacy, trust, and governance issues. It uses a private permissioned blockchain Hyperledger Fabric (HF) and its smart contracts to perform energy trading settlements. The suggested P2P marketplace includes a particular regulator actor acting as a governmental representative overseeing marketplace operations. In this way, the suggested P2P marketplace can address the governance issues needed in electricity marketplaces. Further, the proposed marketplace ensures actors’ data privacy by employing HF’s private data collections while preserving the integrity and auditability of all operations. We present an in-depth performance evaluation and provide insights into the security and privacy challenges emerging from such a marketplace. The results demonstrate that partial centralization by the applied regulator does not limit the P2P energy trade settlement execution. Blockchain technology allows for automated marketplace operations enabling better incentives for prosumer electricity production. Finally, the suggested marketplace preserves the user’s privacy when P2P energy trade settlements are conducted.

Renewable energy sources were introduced as an alternative to fossil fuel sources to make electricity generation cleaner. However, today's renewable energy markets face a number of limitations, such as inflexible pricing models and inaccurate consumption information. These limitations can be addressed with a decentralized marketplace architecture. Such architecture requires a mechanism to guarantee that all marketplace operations are executed according to predefined rules and regulations. One of the ways to establish such a mechanism is blockchain technology. This work defines a decentralized blockchain-based peer-to-peer (P2P) energy marketplace which addresses actors' privacy and the performance of consensus mechanisms. The defined marketplace utilizes private permissioned Ethereum-based blockchain client Hyperledger Besu (HB) and its smart contracts to automate the P2P trade settlement process. Also, to make the marketplace compliant with energy trade regulations, it includes the regulator actor, which manages the issue and consumption of guarantees of origin and certifies the renewable energy sources used to generate traded electricity. Finally, the proposed marketplace incorporates privacy-preserving features, allowing it to generate private transactions and store them within a designated group of actors. Performance evaluation results of HB-based marketplace with three main consensus mechanisms for private networks, i.e., Clique, IBFT 2.0, and QBFT, demonstrate a lower throughput than another popular private permissioned blockchain platform Hyperledger Fabric (HF). However, the lower throughput is a side effect of the Byzantine Fault Tolerant characteristics of HB's consensus mechanisms, i.e., IBFT 2.0 and QBFT, which provide increased security compared to HF's Crash Fault Tolerant consensus RAFT.

The energy distribution infrastructure is a vital part of any modern society. Thus, renewable energy sources are becoming increasingly important as a substitute for energy produced with fossil fuels. However, renewable energy production faces several challenges in the energy market and its management, such as inflexible pricing models and inaccurate green consumption information. A decentralized electricity marketplace may address these challenges. However, such a platform must guarantee that the transactions follow the market rules and regulations, cannot be manipulated, and are consistent with the energy generated. One of the ways to provide these guarantees is to leverage blockchain technology. Our previous studies demonstrate the current energy trade regulations result in partial marketplace centralization around governmental authority. The governmental authority, i.e., the regulator, oversees marketplace operations and requires energy providers to share private data about electricity generation and energy trade settlement. This study proposes amendments to D2018/2001 legislation and the governmental regulator actor to improve marketplace flexibility and data privacy. Further, we propose a new blockchain-based P2P energy marketplace model with increased flexibility and scalability while addressing actors' privacy and trust requirements. The marketplace utilizes a private permissioned blockchain Hyperledger Fabric (HF) due to its privacy-preserving and trust-enabling capabilities. This study provides HF comparison with Ethereum-based competitor Hyperledger Besu (HB). Further, based on the identified advantages and limitations, we discuss the rationale for the choice of HF. We utilize HF's smart contracts to enable P2P energy trade settlement orchestration and management. Based on previous studies, we propose an improvement towards HF security by utilizing a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus mechanism, which is protected against malicious system actors. The results demonstrate that while protecting the blockchain network from malicious system actors, the BFT mechanism shows a similar throughput to the RAFT Crash Fault Tolerant consensus in the context of the P2P energy marketplace. Finally, BFT consensus enables legislation enhancements, resulting in increased flexibility and data privacy in the energy trade marketplace.