collectionshyperledger-fabricprivateconfidentiality

Hyperledger private data collection and confidentiality


I’m new to Hyperledger fabric and I want have some data confidential in my blockchain.. In fact I read about private data collection provided by HL , and I read that the private data is shared only among authorized peers and saved in peer’s private state database using couchDB.

My question is, is PDC is a good alternative for protecting data? I mean is the peers private state could be accessible by any unauthorized peer on the network? If yes, how? And how i can protect my data without using any form of encryption?


Solution

  • Welcome to the Hyperledger community!

    Private data collections are ideal if you have several participants on the network that should not see the whole state of each other. Only authorized peers can access that information, if all peers follow the protocol (in particular, Fabric's private data collection definition, namely its policy). However, since a peer could deviate from the expected behavior, in theory, it could send the private data via an off-chain channel.

    If you trust the network, private data is enough for your requirements. If you suspect some of the peers might misbehave (typically this is against a Fabric's network security assumptions), then encrypting data could be a good option.