Data Integrity and Cost-Effectiveness in the Blockchain-Based Whistleblowing Systems Implementation
Ridwan Sanjaya, Theresia Dwi Hastuti, Benediktus Danang Setianto, Natasha Diva Muljono · 2024
The implementation of Whistleblowing Systems aims to promote trust, security, and transparency in reporting alleged violations or unethical behavior, while ensuring the anonymity of the whistleblower to protect them from potential threats or revenge. Anonymity serves as a protection for the whistleblower's identity, while generating of tokens for report tracking, without requiring account creation, ensures that each report is properly followed up. Furthermore, the system must ensure that reports remain unchanged to preserve their integrity. Blockchain technology represents one method to address this requirement. The utilization of hashes that reference previous entries in an off-chain table or data stored on the blockchain (on-chain) might facilitate the verification of reports, maintaining their integrity in Whistleblowing Systems. If any information in the report is modified, the changed hash will no longer correspond with the hash recorded on the blockchain. Verifying the consistency of hashes between both of them ensures data integrity. However, the integration of blockchain in Whistleblowing Systems must also account for the expenses related to the storage of report hashes. The storage expenses are relied on smart contracts that minimize complex operations and high gas fees. The smart contract must be engineered to be cost-effective while adequately fulfilling the system's requirements.