{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,16]],"date-time":"2025-09-16T16:52:39Z","timestamp":1758041559459,"version":"3.44.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)","issue":"4","funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100031478","name":"Next-Generation EU","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["Italian PNRR - M4 C2, Invest 1.3 - D.D. 1551.11-10-2022, PE00000004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Italian PNRR - M4 C2, Invest 1.3 - D.D. 1551.11-10-2022, PE00000004"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100031478","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"CUP MICS","award":["D43C22003120001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["D43C22003120001"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["dl.acm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["ACM Trans. Priv. Secur."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,30]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>In aviation, safety is paramount, with air traffic control (ATC) playing a crucial role in monitoring aircraft to prevent collisions and manage traffic flows. In response to increasing air traffic, a renewal process has been initiated. This includes deploying the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) communications protocol, which aims to enhance surveillance precision and increase the number of aircraft that can be handled simultaneously. This transition is transforming ATC from a radar-based system to a more advanced satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) location tracking system. However, due to its inherently open design, the ADS-B protocol lacks critical security features such as authentication, necessitating the adoption of additional security measures to mitigate potential cyber-attacks. To address these vulnerabilities, this work introduces Swarm, an innovative distributed ledger-based framework, built on top of the ADS-B protocol and aimed at enhancing the security of air traffic control (ATC) while avoiding single points of failure. Swarm can be integrated into existing ATC infrastructure without requiring any modifications to the ADS-B protocol. We evaluate Swarm through rigorous and realistic attack scenarios, using real-world aviation data, demonstrating its capability to enhance the security of the aviation domain.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1145\/3759456","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,13]],"date-time":"2025-08-13T11:15:01Z","timestamp":1755083701000},"page":"1-35","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Swarm: A Distributed Ledger-based Framework to Enhance Air Traffic Control Security Using ADS-B Protocol"],"prefix":"10.1145","volume":"28","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-1854-759X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gabriele","family":"Digregorio","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano","place":["Milano, Italy"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-2741-0812","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Edoardo","family":"Saputelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano","place":["Milano, Italy"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7533-4510","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefano","family":"Longari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano","place":["Milano, Italy"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8284-6074","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michele","family":"Carminati","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano","place":["Milan, Italy"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4710-5283","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefano","family":"Zanero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano","place":["Milan, Italy"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"320","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_1_2_2","unstructured":"International Energy Agency. 2020. World Air Passenger Traffic Evolution (1980-2020). Retrieved from https:\/\/www.iea.org\/data-and-statistics\/charts\/world-air-passenger-traffic-evolution-1980-2020. Accessed: 2023-05-30."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3131542.3131563"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/s21093049"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_5_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/MC.2017.3571064"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_6_2","first-page":"9","article-title":"The swirlds hashgraph consensus algorithm: Fair, fast, byzantine fault tolerance","volume":"34","author":"Baird Leemon","year":"2016","unstructured":"Leemon Baird. 2016. The swirlds hashgraph consensus algorithm: Fair, fast, byzantine fault tolerance. Swirlds Tech Reports SWIRLDS-TR-2016-01, Tech. Rep 34 (2016), 9\u201311.","journal-title":"Swirlds Tech Reports SWIRLDS-TR-2016-01, Tech. Rep"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_7_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/drones8080410"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_8_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"629","DOI":"10.1109\/IWCMC.2019.8766440","volume-title":"2019 15th International Wireless Communications & Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC)","author":"Cheikhrouhou Omar","year":"2019","unstructured":"Omar Cheikhrouhou and Anis Koub\u00e2a. 2019. Blockloc: Secure localization in the internet of things using blockchain. In 2019 15th International Wireless Communications & Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC). IEEE, 629\u2013634."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_9_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"146","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-76969-9_10","volume-title":"Cryptology and Network Security: 6th International Conference, CANS 2007, Singapore, December 8-10, 2007. Proceedings 6","author":"Chow Sherman SM","year":"2007","unstructured":"Sherman SM Chow. 2007. Running on karma\u2013P2P reputation and currency systems. In Cryptology and Network Security: 6th International Conference, CANS 2007, Singapore, December 8-10, 2007. Proceedings 6. Springer, 146\u2013158."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"484","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-33491-7_18","volume-title":"International Conference on Applied Cryptography and Network Security","author":"Chow Sherman SM","year":"2023","unstructured":"Sherman SM Chow, Jack PK Ma, and Tsz Hon Yuen. 2023. Scored anonymous credentials. In International Conference on Applied Cryptography and Network Security. Springer, 484\u2013515."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_11_2","unstructured":"International civil aviation organization Asia and Pacific office. [n.d.]. ADS-B Implementation and operations guidance document. Retrieved from https:\/\/www.icao.int\/APAC\/Documents\/edocs\/cns\/AIGD%20Edition%2015.0.pdf"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_12_2","first-page":"1","volume-title":"2019 IEEE\/AIAA 38th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)","author":"Clementi Marina Dehez","year":"2019","unstructured":"Marina Dehez Clementi, Nicolas Larrieu, Emmanuel Lochin, Mohamed Ali Kaafar, and Hassan Asghar. 2019. When air traffic management meets blockchain technology: A blockchain-based concept for securing the sharing of flight data. In 2019 IEEE\/AIAA 38th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC). Ieee, 1\u201310."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_13_2","first-page":"1","article-title":"Ghost in the air (traffic): On insecurity of ADS-B protocol and practical attacks on ADS-B devices","volume":"1","author":"Costin Andrei","year":"2012","unstructured":"Andrei Costin, Aur\u00e9lien Francillon, et\u00a0al. 2012. Ghost in the air (traffic): On insecurity of ADS-B protocol and practical attacks on ADS-B devices. Black Hat USA 1 (2012), 1\u201312.","journal-title":"Black Hat USA"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_14_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"277","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-02671-4_16","volume-title":"On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems. OTM 2018 Conferences","author":"Ioini Nabil El","year":"2018","unstructured":"Nabil El Ioini and Claus Pahl. 2018. A review of distributed ledger technologies. In On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems. OTM 2018 Conferences. Herv\u00e9 Panetto, Christophe Debruyne, Henderik A. Proper, Claudio Agostino Ardagna, Dumitru Roman, and Robert Meersman (Eds.). Springer International Publishing, Cham, 277\u2013288."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_15_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/28395.28419"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_16_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"346","DOI":"10.1109\/ICICT4SD50815.2021.9396828","volume-title":"2021 International Conference on Information and Communication Technology for Sustainable Development (ICICT4SD)","author":"Hasin Farah","year":"2021","unstructured":"Farah Hasin, Tahmina Haque Munia, Nazmun Nahar Zumu, and Kazi Abu Taher. 2021. ADS-B based air traffic management system using ethereum blockchain technology. In 2021 International Conference on Information and Communication Technology for Sustainable Development (ICICT4SD). IEEE, 346\u2013350."},{"volume-title":"Annex 11 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation\u2014Air Traffic Services","year":"2018","key":"e_1_3_1_17_2","unstructured":"ICAO. 2018. Annex 11 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation\u2014Air Traffic Services. Technical Report. ICAO."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_18_2","unstructured":"IOST. 2017. IOST: The Next-Generation Secure Highly Scalable Ecosystem for Online Services. Retrieved from https:\/\/iost.io\/624\/"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_19_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TIV.2018.2873911"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_20_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/SP.2018.000-5"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_21_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/su10103652"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_22_2","first-page":"1","volume-title":"2021 IEEE\/AIAA 40th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)","author":"Lu Xin","year":"2021","unstructured":"Xin Lu, Zhijun Wu, Yanhan Wu, Qing Wang, and Yue Yin. 2021. ATMChain: Blockchain-based solution to security problems in air traffic management. In 2021 IEEE\/AIAA 40th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC). IEEE, 1\u20138."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_23_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Davide Maffiola Stefano Longari Michele Carminati Mara Tanelli and Stefano Zanero. 2022. GOLIATH: A decentralized framework for data collection in intelligent transportation systems. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems 23 8 (2022) 13372\u201313385. DOI:10.1109\/TITS.2021.3123824","DOI":"10.1109\/TITS.2021.3123824"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_24_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Mohsen Riahi Manesh and Naima Kaabouch. 2017. Analysis of vulnerabilities attacks countermeasures and overall risk of the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) system. International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection 19 (2017) 16\u201331. DOI:10.1016\/j.ijcip.2017.10.002","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijcip.2017.10.002"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_25_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijcip.2011.06.001"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_26_2","unstructured":"Satoshi Nakamoto. 2008. Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. White paper."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_27_2","unstructured":"OpenSky Network. 2023. OpenSky Network. Retrieved from https:\/\/opensky-network.org\/"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_28_2","unstructured":"Airports Authority of India. [n.d.]. Automatic Dependent Surveillance\u2014Broadcast (ADS-B) Out Based Ats Surveillance Services. Retrieved from https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20160304051131http:\/\/www.aai.aero\/misc\/AIPS_2014_18.pdf"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_3_1_29_2","first-page":"51","article-title":"ADS-B data authentication based on ECC and X. 509 certificate","volume":"10","author":"Pan Wei-Jun","year":"2012","unstructured":"Wei-Jun Pan, Zi-Liang Feng, and Yang Wang. 2012. ADS-B data authentication based on ECC and X. 509 certificate. Journal of Electronic Science and Technology 10, 1 (2012), 51\u201355.","journal-title":"Journal of Electronic Science and Technology"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_30_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Swathi Pennapareddy and K. Natarajan. 2022. Securing ADS-B data transmissions using blockchain: a comprehensive survey and analysis. Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology 95 3 (October 2022) 452\u2013463. DOI:10.1108\/AEAT-02-2022-0058","DOI":"10.1108\/AEAT-02-2022-0058"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_31_2","unstructured":"Serguei Yu. Popov. 2015. The Tangle. Retrieved from https:\/\/api.semanticscholar.org\/CorpusID:4958428"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_32_2","volume-title":"AIAA Scitech Forum","author":"Reisman Ronald J","year":"2019","unstructured":"Ronald J Reisman. 2019. Air traffic management blockchain infrastructure for security, authentication, and privacy. In AIAA Scitech Forum. NASA Technical Report ARC-E-DAA-TN63825."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_33_2","unstructured":"William R. Richards Kathleen O\u2019Brien and Dean C. Miller. 2010. New air traffic surveillance technology. Boeing Aeromagazine 2 7 (2010)."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_34_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/s21206814"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_35_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/rfs\/hhaa075"},{"issue":"4","key":"e_1_3_1_36_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"218","DOI":"10.3390\/jrfm16040218","article-title":"Impact of proof of work (PoW)-based blockchain applications on the environment: A systematic review and research agenda","volume":"16","author":"Sapra Nishant","year":"2023","unstructured":"Nishant Sapra, Imlak Shaikh, and Ashutosh Dash. 2023. Impact of proof of work (PoW)-based blockchain applications on the environment: A systematic review and research agenda. Journal of Risk and Financial Management 16, 4 (2023), 218.","journal-title":"Journal of Risk and Financial Management"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_37_2","first-page":"42","volume-title":"Defence S&T Technical Bulletin","author":"Sathyamoorthy Dinesh","year":"2013","unstructured":"Dinesh Sathyamoorthy. 2013. Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) spoofing: A review of growing risks and mitigation steps. In Defence S&T Technical Bulletin, Vol. 6. Science & Technology Research Institute for Defence(STRIDE), 42\u201361."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_38_2","first-page":"83","volume-title":"IPSN\u201914, Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (part of CPS Week), April 15-17, 2014, Berlin, Germany","author":"Sch\u00e4fer Matthias","year":"2014","unstructured":"Matthias Sch\u00e4fer, Martin Strohmeier, Vincent Lenders, Ivan Martinovic, and Matthias Wilhelm. 2014. Bringing up OpenSky: A large-scale ADS-B sensor network for research. In IPSN\u201914, Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (part of CPS Week), April 15-17, 2014, Berlin, Germany, Adam Wolisz, Jie Liu, and Lin Zhong (Eds.). IEEE\/ACM, 83\u201394. Retrieved from http:\/\/dl.acm.org\/citation.cfm?id=2602350"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_39_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Christophe Schinckus. 2021. Proof-of-work based blockchain technology and anthropocene: An undermined situation? Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 152 (2021) 111682. DOI:10.1016\/j.rser.2021.111682","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rser.2021.111682"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_40_2","unstructured":"Skybrary. [n.d.]. Automatic Dependent Surveillance\u2014Broadcast (ADS-B). Retrieved from https:\/\/skybrary.aero\/articles\/automatic-dependent-surveillance-broadcast-ads-b. Accessed: 2024-07-01."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_41_2","unstructured":"Martin Strohmeier Vincent Lenders and Ivan Martinovic. 2013. Security of ADS-B: State of the art and beyond. arXiv:1307.3664. Retrieved from https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/1307.3664"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_42_2","unstructured":"Marc Viggiano Edward Valovage and Marcello Distasio. 2004. Secure automatic dependant surveillance. Google Patents."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_43_2","volume-title":"Distributed Ledger Technology: Beyond Block Chain","author":"Walport Mark","year":"2016","unstructured":"Mark Walport. 2016. Distributed Ledger Technology: Beyond Block Chain. Government Office for Science."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_44_2","first-page":"92","volume-title":"2021 IEEE 6th International Conference on Computer and Communication Systems (ICCCS)","author":"Wu Yanhan","year":"2021","unstructured":"Yanhan Wu, Xin Lu, and Zhijun Wu. 2021. Blockchain-based trust model for air traffic management network. In 2021 IEEE 6th International Conference on Computer and Communication Systems (ICCCS). IEEE, 92\u201398."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_45_2","first-page":"1","volume-title":"2022 IEEE\/AIAA 41st Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)","author":"Wu Zhijun","year":"2022","unstructured":"Zhijun Wu and Jiawei Liu. 2022. Blockchain-based trusted avionics authentication for secure ground-to-air communication. In 2022 IEEE\/AIAA 41st Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC). IEEE, 1\u20139."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_46_2","unstructured":"Oliver Wyman. [n.d.]. Global Fleet & MRO Market Forecast 2022-2032. Retrieved from https:\/\/www.oliverwyman.com\/our-expertise\/insights\/2022\/feb\/global-fleet-and-mro-market-forecast-2022-2032.html. Accessed: 2023-05-30."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_47_2","unstructured":"Oliver Wyman. 2022. Aviation Is Poised For A Decade Of Growth But There Are Headwinds Besides Covid-19. Retrieved from https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/oliverwyman\/2022\/02\/24\/why-aviation-will-grow-for-a-decade-but-there-are-headwinds-besides-covid-19\/. Accessed: 2023-05-30."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_48_2","article-title":"Solana: A new architecture for a high performance blockchain v0. 8.13","author":"Yakovenko Anatoly","year":"2018","unstructured":"Anatoly Yakovenko. 2018. Solana: A new architecture for a high performance blockchain v0. 8.13. Whitepaper (2018).","journal-title":"Whitepaper"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_49_2","unstructured":"Anatoly Yakovenko. 2019. 8 Innovations that Make Solana the First Web-Scale Blockchain. Retrieved from https:\/\/medium.com\/solana-labs\/7-innovations-that-make-solana-the-first-web-scale-blockchain-ddc50b1defda. Accessed: 11-05-23."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_50_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/BigDataCongress.2017.85"}],"container-title":["ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1145\/3759456","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,11]],"date-time":"2025-09-11T12:34:11Z","timestamp":1757594051000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/3759456"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,11]]},"references-count":49,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,30]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1145\/3759456"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/3759456","relation":{},"ISSN":["2471-2566","2471-2574"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"2471-2566"},{"type":"electronic","value":"2471-2574"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,11]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2024-09-19","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2025-07-29","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2025-09-11","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}