IEEE Blockchain Africa Panel “SmartBlock4Africa” is organized under the IEEE Blockchain Initiative US, by two scientific groups from Valley View University, Ghana and Babcock University, Nigeria.
Virtual Event • 19 May 2022 at 15.00 -19.30 PM WAS
The event provides the participants to get acquainted with the latest developments of blockchain from industry and also with the research from academia that can be applied in industry. The presentations will be focused to the situation in Africa and also internationally. The event is online.
Blockchain is an impenetrable technology that has application in several domains such as money transfers, financial exchanges (cryptocurrency), lending (collateralized loans), insurance, healthcare, real estate, secure information (personal and medical), Non-fungible tokens, logistics and supply chain, data storage and secure Internet of Things (IoT).
Blockchain applications in digital identity prevents inaccessibility, data insecurity and fraudulent personalities with key benefits to organizations, users, and IoT coordination systems. Businesses are continually investigating new ways to use blockchain technology to support their operations, despite the fact that it has only been around for a dozen years. With the increasing usage of digital data in our lives, the data security, access, openness, and integrity that blockchain can provide is becoming more important.
This event is hosted by Babcock University, Nigeria in collaboration with Valley View University, Ghana and powered by IEEE Blockchain Initiative.
Conference Committee
- Honorary Chair: Prof. Gora Datta, FHL7, Visiting Scholar @ University of California Berkeley, US, Chair IEEE Blockchain Initiative Conferences/Events
- Co-Honorary Chair: Prof. Nicolae Goga, University Politechnica of Bucharest, Chair of IEEE Blockchain Romania
- Chair: Prof. Oludele Awodele, Backcock University, Nigeria
- Co-Chair: Dr. Dominic Damoah, Valley View University, Ghana
Agenda
Virtual Event • 19 May 2022 at 15.00 -19.30 PM WAT
15:00-15:05
Introduction
Prof Oludele Awodele, PhD, Chair, IEEE Blockchain Africa Industry Panel
Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo, Nigeria
Dominic Damoah, PhD, Co-Chair, IEEE Blockchain Africa Industry Panel
Valley View University, Oyibi-Accra, Ghana
Keynote
15:05-15:30
Prof. Gora Datta and Prof. Nicolae Goga
Honorary Chairs, IEEE Blockchain Africa Panel: SmartBlock4Africa
Session 1
Session Chair: Prof Oludele Awodele, PhD
15:30-15:50
EHIWE Dominic (PhD, FFIS), Consultant, Cyber Forensics & Open Source Intelligence, “Addressing Social Network User Privacy Concerns By Leveraging Blockchain Technology”
“Addressing Social Network User Privacy Concerns By Leveraging Blockchain Technology”
15:50-16:10
CHIGOZIE-OKWUM Chioma, Director of ICT, Spiritan University Nneochi, Abia State, Nigeria
“Beyond the Financials; An Exposé On The Non-Financial Affordances Of Blockchain Technology”
16:10-16:30
AKINSOLA, Jide Ebenezer Taiwo Ph.D. (MNCS, MCP, CITP, MITSSP, FCBA, FCKM), Researcher, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics,
“Application of Blockchain Technology For Secure Messaging Using Hybridized Cryptography Techniques”
16:30-16:50
ABUAH, Ifeoma (B.sc.) Information Resource Management, Data Scientists, Developer, Inventor of Cypherthron AI,
“Leveraging Blockchain food Business”
16:50-1700
Q&A
Session 2
17:00-17:10
Keynote Speaker:
Session Chair: Dominic Damoah, PhD.
17:10-17.30
Kwame Opuni-Boakye Obour Agyekum Ph.D. Lecturer, Researcher – Blockchain | Applied Cryptography | Cyber Security | Wireless Communications, “Blockchain-Based Approach To Secure Data Sharing In The Internet Of Things Environment “.
17:30-17:50
Emmanuel Ahene PhD, Lecturer, Researcher KNUST, Cybersecurity consultant & Co-founder Cyberpassconsult, Research Area: Information Security| Blockchain Technology| Cryptographic Applications, “Blockchain For Electronic Health Record Systems Using Heterogeneous Signcryption With Proxy Re-Encryption”.
17:50-18:10
Dr. Ramona Popa Lecturer at University Politechnica of Bucharest and CS architect at Ericson. She is Vice Chair of IEEE Blockchain Romania & & Mr. Mihai Butolo of University Politehnica of Bucharest, “An NFT Blockchain E Commerce System”.
18.10-18:40
Chioma Chigozie-Okwum, Director of ICT, Spiritan University Nneochi, Abia State, Nigeria, “Beyond the financials; an expose on the non-financial affordances of blockchain technology”
18:10-18:20
Q&A
Closing Remarks
18:20 -18:40
Closing Keynote Speaker
18:20 -18:30
Dr John Gachago
- Digital Health Expert / Healthcare Consultant / Business Innovator/Educator/Author
- Data and Technology Advancement (DATA) Scholar, NIH: National Institute of Health, US
- DigiHealth Senior Technology Consultant, IFC: International Finance Corporation
Speakers
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EHIWE Dominic (PhD, FFIS) |
| Consultant, Cyber Forensics & Open Source Intelligence | Investigator, Software & Tech IP Rights Violation | Information Systems Researcher | |
✉Email  LinkedIn |
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| Dr. Ehiwe practices as a digital forensic investigation & advisory consultant. He is principal partner of EON-PeaceConsult Limited, a digital forensic investigation, information security consulting, open source intelligence (OSINT) and IP rights violation investigation and litigation support services provider.
Dr. Ehiwe is a fellow of the Forensic Investigators Society, Nigeria (FISN) and a certified Software Analysis & Forensic Engineering (SAFE, USA) software & tech intellectual property violation investigator; litigation support consultant and expert witness with an Advanced Diploma in Forensic Accounting & Criminal Intelligence (FACI) from the Federal University of Lagos, Nigeria. He is adjunct faculty with the School of Business of Charisma University, Turks & Caicos Island where he teaches on the MSc Information Technology Management & PhD Cyber Security Administration program; he facilitates part-time a fully hands-on digital forensics investigation training course with the Institute of Advanced Forensics (IAF) in collaboration with the Federal University of Lagos (UNILAG). |
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| ADDRESSING SOCIAL NETWORK USER PRIVACY CONCERNS BY LEVERAGING BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY | |
| Abstract | |
| The number of users on social network platforms continue to increase as more platforms are birthed or as individuals gain access to technology that enables creation of a social network profile. While these platforms present opportunities for engagement and information sharing, yet they pose risks for both current and potential users. One of such widely regarded risks is the security of user information and how to enforce their online safety. This paper will examine the role of decentralized networks such as the Blockchain technology in improving user privacy and security on social network platforms. | |
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CHIOMA CHIGOZIE-OKWUM |
| Director of ICT, Spiritan University Nneochi, Abia State, Nigeria | |
| ✉Email LinkedIn |
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| Chioma Chigozie-Okwum, indigenous to Nigeria, is a cybersecurity researcher, educator, content creator and advocate. Chioma is a serial tech enthusiast and is passionate about cyber safety awareness propagation and that has earned her many national and international recognitions. She is pursuing cyber-psychology and human factor security frontiers. | |
| BEYOND THE FINANCIALS; AN EXPOSÉ ON THE NON-FINANCIAL AFFORDANCES OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY | |
| Abstract | |
| Blockchain Technology have been over the years misconstrued to serve only financial purposes especially in cryptocurrency and decentralized Finance. This is hugely because one of the earliest uses of Blockchain Technology is in cryptocurrency technology. This paper seeks to explore other numerous non-financial affordances of Blockchain Technology in a bid to draw more attention to those underused but vital uses of this wonder technology. | |
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AKINSOLA, Jide Ebenezer Taiwo Ph.D. (MNCS, MCP, CITP, MITSSP, FCBA, FCKM) |
| Researcher, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics | Developer, Blockchain and Cryptography Algorithms | Cyber Threat Modeling, Data Security and Digital Forensics Specialist | |
| ✉Email LinkedIn |
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| Dr. Akinsola is a lecturer in the Department of Computer Sciences at the First Technical University, Ibadan, Nigeria. He is the Director of ICT at the Institute of Business Administration and Knowledge Management. He is a graduate of Computer Science with specialization in Artificial Intelligence and Data Security. He is an Information Technology Systems and Security Professional and Blockchain Developer Mastery Award winner. He is a fellow of the Institute of Business administration and Knowledge Management. He has wealth of experience in Computational Intelligence, Data Mining and Deep Learning; and has led teams of professionals to deliver e-payment security solutions in financial institutions. He has published twenty-four peer reviewed Scientific Journal articles to his credit and he is a member of many national and International professional bodies. He is an alumnus of MSM, Maastricht, The Netherlands. He is a recipient of several scholarships and awards including the Best Graduating PhD Student, Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation (NUFIC) Post Graduate Fellowship, Special Recognition Award by Niger Delta Awards for Outstanding IT Professional of the year, among others. His research interests include Artificial Intelligence, Data Security, Blockchain Technology, Digital Forensics, Cloud Security, Cryptography, Threat Modelling, Intelligent User Interfaces, Machine Learning, Data Mining; and Decision-Making System and Techniques. | |
| APPLICATION OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY FOR SECURE MESSAGING USING HYBRIDIZED CRYPTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES | |
| Abstract | |
| There has been unprecedented cyber security concerns in the last decade with data breaches exposure of over 35 billion records. These alarming menaces have Cyber crime-related damages with projected cost of $6 trillion annually. As the number of users on the Internet continue to increase exponentially, exposures to data breaches, malware and ransomware through messaging and communication are equally on the rise. These scourges can be mitigated with the implementation of Blockchain Technology (BT). BT as an impermeable technology can be used to prevent data security breaches, integrity attack, digital identity attack, phishing attack, injection attack among others during network communications. This paper seeks to employ the concept of storing data in the form of chained blocks through decentralized blockchains paradigm using hybridized cryptography techniques for secure messaging. | |
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OBOUR AGYEKUM, KWAME OPUNI-BOACHIE Ph.D. |
| Lecturer, Researcher – Blockchain | Applied Cryptography | Cyber Security | Wireless Communications | |
| ✉Email ✉Email2 LinkedIn |
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| Dr. Kwame Opuni-Boachie Obour Agyekum is a lecturer in the Department of Telecommunication Engineering at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. He is the head for the Data Science, Computational Intelligence and Cyber Security (DSCICS) section in the department. He holds a BSc. in Telecommunication Engineering (2014) from KNUST, an M.Eng. in Information and Communication Engineering (2017) and a D.Eng. in Computer Science and Engineering (2021) from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC). Dr. Obour Agyekum is a tech fanatic whose research interests include Blockchain Technology, Wireless Networking, Applied Cryptography, Computational Intelligence and Cyber Security. | |
| BLOCKCHAIN-BASED APPROACH TO SECURE DATA SHARING IN THE INTERNET OF THINGS ENVIRONMENT | |
| Abstract | |
| The evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) has seen data sharing as one of its most useful applications in cloud computing. As eye-catching as this technology has been, data security remains one of the obstacles it faces since the wrongful use of data leads to several damages. This work proposes a Proxy Re-Encryption (PRE) approach to secure data sharing in cloud environments. Data owners can outsource their encrypted data to the cloud using Identity-Based Encryption (IBE), while proxy re-encryption construction will grant legitimate users access to the data. With the Internet of Things devices being resource-constrained, an edge device acts as a proxy server to handle intensive computations. Also, we make use of the features of Information-Centric Networking (ICN) to deliver cached content in the proxy effectively, thus improving the quality of service and making good use of the network bandwidth. Further, our system model is based on blockchain, a disruptive technology that enables decentralization in data sharing. It mitigates the bottlenecks in centralized systems and achieves fine grained access control to data. | |
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Emmanuel Ahene (PhD, MEng) |
| Lecturer, KNUST, Cybersecurity consultant & Co-founder Cyberpassconsult | |
| Emmanuel Ahene is a lecturer with demonstrated research and professional expertise in cyber security at the Department of Computer Science, KNUST. He is the Co-founder of cyberpassconsult, an international cybersecurity consulting firm that offers IT security consultancy services and training for public and private organizations. In his quest to build human capacity against cybercrime activities in Ghana, Dr. Ahene has over the years been involved in running and facilitating several hands-on training programs in cyber security for both public and private institutions in Ghana. He has several research articles published in high-impact journals and conferences. He is a reviewer for several high-impact journals such as IEEE internet of things, IEEE systems journal, IEEE Transactions on Computers, IEEE Access, Computers and Electrical Engineering Elsevier, and KSII Transactions on Internet & Information System. In 2017 and in 2020, he received Journal Service Award as the outstanding reviewer from Elsevier’s Computers and Electrical Engineering Journal and KSII Transactions on Internet & Information Systems (2020) http://itiis.org/announcement/53 respectively. He received his BSc. degree in Computer Science at the University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana. He worked with the NHIA, Ghana and UMaT as a systems admin and Web programmer respectively in 2013 and 2014. From September 2014 to December 2019, he pursued his Masters and Doctoral degree in Computer Science and Technology (cryptography and network security) at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC). During his doctoral studies, he received reputable awards such as the Chinese Scholarship Council’s Outstanding Student Award 2019 and UESTC’s most outstanding international student award 2019. His research area includes Cyber Security and Machine learning. Pertaining to cybersecurity, he conducts research in Blockchain, Smart Grid, Cloud Computing, E-health, LBS, email, and E-voting systems. Pertaining to Machine learning he conducts research in adversarial examples, botnet, and malware detection. | |
| BLOCKCHAIN FOR ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD SYSTEMS USING HETEROGENEOUS SIGNCRYPTION WITH PROXY RE-ENCRYPTION | |
| Abstract | |
| Electronic health record (EHR) systems provide the platform that enables digital documentation of patients’ health information. Practically, EHR systems aid in delivering quality medical healthcare and limiting medical errors. However, existing EHR systems are associated with several security and technical issues such as: system heterogeneity, big data storage, data privacy, authentication, data sharing, interoperability and auditability. We emphasize that, for an EHR system to be efficiently deployed the above listed issues have to be considered or addressed. Poorly implemented EHR systems undeniably poses risk to patient safety and breaches patient data privacy. That is, the security and technical issues associated with EHR systems presents an open problem that demands research attention. It is non-trivial to solve all the problems associated with EHR systems. In this paper, we consider the heterogeneity EHR systems bring, the security of adopting cloud storage services due to data enormity, the challenge of interoperability, auditability and data security (data privacy, authentication, and access control) and thereby seek to address the security and technical challenges associated with EHR systems. To achieve this, we construct a new heterogeneous signcryption with proxy re-encryption (HSC-PRE) scheme and demonstrate that it can be applied to addressing the security and technical challenges of EHR systems when combined with blockchain technology. | |
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Ramona Popa, PhD |
| Lecturer at University Politehnica of Bucharest and CS architect at Ericson,Vice Chair of IEEE Blockchain Romania | |
| ✉Email LinkedIn |
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Mihai Butolo |
| Lecturer University Politehnica Bucharest, Romania and CEO at MBM | |
| ✉Email LinkedIn |
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| Dr. Ramona Popa is lecturer at University Politehnica of Bucharest and Computer Science architect at Ericson. She is Vice Chair of IEEE Blockchain Romania. Her research interests include blockchain, semantic web, distributed systems, AI.
Mihai Butolo is Lecturer University Politehnica Bucharest, Romania and CEO at MBM Software. His research interests include Artificial Intelligence, Networking, blockchain, distributed systems. |
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| AN NFT BLOCKCHAIN E COMMERCE SYSTEM | |
| Abstract | |
| Now a days NFT Blockchain system are modern way for sales of electronic images, artistry, ebooks and many other items. The presentation will speak about an eCommerce system, NFT Blockchain based, that is going to incorporate also an AI engine. | |
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ABUAH DEBORAH IFEOMA |
| (Data Scientists, Researcher, Inventor, Developer)Director of Artificial Intelligence solutions, Azap Coordinate Digital ltd, Lagos State Nigeria. Director of ICT, RIMCO Inc. Oyo State Nigeria |
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| ✉Email ✉Email | |
| Abuah Ifeoma is an entrepreneur, inventor, and an investor. she is a co-founder at Azap coordinates digital, a rising tech organization that started it operations in 2019 and has since been developing growth extensions in Nigeria she obtained a bachelor of science degree in information resources management from Babcock university in Nigeria she has worked with various companies as an it business analyst in 2012 to build strategic goals with attainable achievements, she also worked in the banking sector in the customer representative department in 2014 she designs structural digital solutions to recreate customer interactive platforms. she builds and develops brands as a brand manager , she worked as a project manager with various companies in 2018. she began working on a new technology project called Cypherthron in 2019 . Cypherthron is a personal intelligence (pi) technology system solution. Abuah Ifeoma uses the simple cognitive strategy as a driving tool.. | |
| APPLICATION OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY FOR SECURE MESSAGING USING HYBRIDIZED CRYPTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES | |
| Abstract | |
| There has been unprecedented cyber security concerns in the last decade with data breaches exposure of over 35 billion records. These alarming menaces have Cyber crime-related damages with projected cost of $6 trillion annually. As the number of users on the Internet continue to increase exponentially, exposures to data breaches, malware and ransomware through messaging and communication are equally on the rise. These scourges can be mitigated with the implementation of Blockchain Technology (BT). BT as an impermeable technology can be used to prevent data security breaches, integrity attack, digital identity attack, phishing attack, injection attack among others during network communications. This paper seeks to employ the concept of storing data in the form of chained blocks through decentralized blockchains paradigm using hybridized cryptography techniques for secure messaging. | |
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Dominic Dalyngton Damoah PhD |
| Senior Lecturer of Computer Science | |
| ✉Email LinkedIn |
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| Dominic Dalyngton Damoah PhD is a Senior Lecturer of Computer Science whose research interests include, Data Science, Big Data, Software Engineering and Computer Security. Dean, faculty of Science (2016-2020), HoD, Computing Sciences and Engineering (2012-2018) at Valley View University in Ghana. A Result-orientated team leader at BK Grand Technologies Limited developing, implementing and supporting complex Systems. Member of ACM and IEEE |
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