Blockchain-Backed Access Control in E-Governance Portals

Taha, Sarmad; Al-Ani, Amrita

doi:10.25673/123771

Proceedings of International Conference on Applied Innovation in IT · 2026/03/31 · Vol. 14 · Issue 1 · pp. 1517–1524

Blockchain-Backed Access Control in E-Governance Portals

Sarmad Waleed Taha, Amrita Prasad and Huthaifa Ayad Al-Ani

📄 Download PDF DOI: 10.25673/123771

Abstract

E-governance portals are now important infrastructures in the provision of transparent, secure and efficient services to the citizens due to the rapid digitization of the public services. Nevertheless, conventional access control systems like RBAC and PBAC are not able to handle the dynamic, privacy-aware and auditing needs of new digital governance systems. This research paper presents a blockchain-supported access control system which integrates decentralized policy enforcement and Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE) to provide fine-grained and tamper-resistant access control decisions in e-governance contexts. The architecture uses the concept of smart contracts to evaluate policies dynamically, decentralized identity (DID) management, and event recording that is immutable. The results of simulation show that it is highly scalable, has low access latency, and can protect user privacy, even when the number of users is large. The proposed model is more effective than traditional frameworks in the aspect of auditability, promptness of policy update, and impeding unauthorized access. An overall analysis will compare the system with other systems that are currently in use in access control, and it will be demonstrated that the system is applicable to the scalable citizen-friendly governance systems. The results indicate that access models that include blockchain can contribute to improving the credibility, transparency, and compliance of governmental digital services to a considerable degree.

Keywords

Blockchain Access Control E-Governance Smart Contracts Attribute-Based Encryption Policy Enforcement Cybersecurity Decentralized Identity CP-ABE Privacy Preservation.

References

Z. Jadidi, S. Pal, M. Hussain, and K. Nguyen Thanh, “Correlation-based anomaly detection in industrial control systems,” Sensors, vol. 23, no. 3, p. 1561, 2023.
A. M. Tawfik, A. Al-Ahwal, A. S. T. Eldien, and H. H. Zayed, “Blockchain-based access control and privacy preservation in healthcare: a comprehensive survey,” Cluster Computing, vol. 28, no. 8, p. 529, 2025.
R. Hu, Z. Ma, L. Li, P. Zuo, X. Li, J. Wei, and S. Liu, “An access control scheme based on blockchain and ciphertext policy-attribute based encryption,” Sensors, vol. 23, no. 19, p. 8038, 2023.
Y. Dai, J. Wu, S. Mao, X. Rao, B. Gu, Y. Qu, and Y. Lu, “Blockchain empowered access control for digital twin system with attribute-based encryption,” Future Generation Computer Systems, vol. 160, pp. 564-576, 2024.
A. Punia et al., “A systematic review on blockchain based access control systems,” Journal of Cloud Computing, vol. 13, no. 1, p. 97, 2024.
L. Yan, L. Ge, Z. Wang, G. Zhang, J. Xu, and Z. Hu, “Access control scheme based on blockchain and attribute-based searchable encryption in cloud environment,” Journal of Cloud Computing, vol. 12, no. 1, p. 61, 2023.
N. Yaqub, J. Zhang, M. I. Khalid, W. Wang, M. Helfert, M. Ahmed, and J. Kim, “Blockchain enabled policy-based access control mechanism to restrict unauthorized access to electronic health records,” PeerJ Computer Science, vol. 11, p. e2647, 2025.
S. Y. A. Zaidi, M. A. Shah, H. A. Khattak, C. Maple, H. T. Rauf, A. M. El-Sherbeeny, and M. A. El-Meligy, “An attribute-based access control for IoT using blockchain and smart contracts,” Sustainability, vol. 13, no. 19, p. 10556, 2021.
Z. Yang, X. Chen, Y. He, L. Liu, Y. Che, X. Wang, and G. Xu, “An attribute-based access control scheme using blockchain technology for IoT data protection,” High-Confidence Computing, vol. 4, no. 3, p. 100199, 2024.
A. Punia, P. Gulia, N. S. Gill, E. Ibeke, C. Iwendi, and P. K. Shukla, “A systematic review on blockchain-based access control systems in cloud environment,” Journal of Cloud Computing, vol. 13, no. 1, p. 146, 2024.
E. Psarra, D. Apostolou, Y. Verginadis, I. Patiniotakis, and G. Mentzas, “Permissioned blockchain network for proactive access control to electronic health records,” BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, vol. 24, no. 1, p. 303, 2024.
A. M. Tawfik, A. Al-Ahwal, A. S. T. Eldien, and H. H. Zayed, “ACHealthChain blockchain framework for access control and privacy preservation in healthcare,” Scientific Reports, vol. 15, no. 1, p. 16696, 2025.
P. Nemala, B. Chen, and H. Cui, “A Privacy Preserving Attribute-Based Access Control Model for the Tokenization of Mineral Resources via Blockchain,” Applied Sciences, vol. 15, no. 15, p. 8290, 2025.
A. T. Polcumpally, K. K. Pandey, A. Kumar, and A. Samadhiya, “Blockchain governance and trust: A multi-sector thematic systematic review and exploration of future research directions,” Heliyon, vol. 10, no. 12, 2024.
S. S. Ullah, V. Oleshchuk, and H. S. G. Pussewalage, “A survey on blockchain envisioned attribute based access control for internet of things: Overview, comparative analysis, and open research challenges,” Computer Networks, vol. 235, p. 109994, 2023.
N. Halouani and A. K. H. Al-Zuhairi, “The Effect of Financial Leverage on Profitability Indicators in Iraqi Insurance Companies,” Technical Journal of Management Sciences, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 30-40, 2025, [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.51173/tjms.v2i1.12.
A. F. Tchouli, S. N. Ndiya, H. Tchami, C. B. N. Fapi, and H. Tchakounté, “Optimization of Photovoltaic Water Pumping Systems: Progress, Limits, and Prospects for a Healthy Energy Future,” Journal of Techniques, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1-18, 2025, [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.51173/jt.v7i1.2606.