Group Signatures for Secure and Reliable Industrial Data Collaboration

This paper presents a new application of group signatures for secure industrial collaboration to enable anonymous authentication of participants. As industry transitions to the fourth industrial revolution, concerns about sharing data containing sensitive information or intellectual property are a significant barrier, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. The proposed system, developed in the research project MINERVA, addresses these challenges by creating a platform that allows small and medium-sized enterprises to securely aggregate production-relevant data while maintaining anonymity and data integrity. Three architectural designs are proposed: centralized, decentralized, and distributed, each varying in reliance on central authorities and participant roles. Group signatures enable anonymous data uploads while ensuring accountability and traceability in case of malicious behavior. The paper evaluates the system’s functional capabilities and security properties, demonstrating its potential to promote trust and facilitate effective data-sharing in an industrial context. With this work, we contribute to the use of advanced technologies in industry while safeguarding the competitive interests of the companies involved and their intellectual property.