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UFS student’s research project aims to protect the country’s whistleblowers

24 November 2023 | Story André Damons | Photo SUPPLIED

Ricus Krause, an honours student in the Department of Computer Science and Informatics at the University of the Free State (UFS), receives his awards during the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (The South African Academy for Science and Arts) Student Symposium in Natural Sciences.

An honours student in the Department of Computer Science and Informatics at the University of the Free State (UFS) project on using blockchain technology to protect whistleblowers secured him first place for the best project and presentation in his session at the annual Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (The South African Academy for Science and Arts) Student Symposium in Natural Sciences.

Ricus Krause, who presented his project, titled “Blokskakel Fluitjieblaser-Stelsel” (Blockchain Whistleblower System), at the symposium, also received the Eureka DIY Solutions Prize for an Outstanding Contribution to Computer Sciences and Mathematical Sciences. The symposium was hosted by the University of Pretoria in October.

His research aimed to address the shortcomings of current systems for protecting whistleblowers and to design a robust computer system that ensures the confidentiality and integrity of information by using blockchain technology. This system had to protect whistleblowers’ identities and securely preserve evidence of corruption.

Interested in Cybersecurity

“I have been interested in Cybersecurity ever since I started studying. I approached Dr Wynand Nel (supervisor) at the start of my honours year to ask if he had any ideas for a security-focused project, and he introduced me to blockchain technology and the blockchain research group. Blockchain piqued my security interest and allowed me to explore the field further.”

“After meeting with the group, the idea of a blockchain-based system for whistleblowers was born, and I started researching South Africa’s biggest problems, where corruption is at the top. During my initial research, I also discovered that whistleblowers face extreme consequences much more frequently than we think,” says Krause.

He identified the main problem with whistleblowing as the revelation of a whistleblower’s identity before it is safe. Thus, a system was needed to protect a whistleblower’s anonymity and facilitate safe communication to contact investigators.

On winning the awards, Krause said he knew he was competing against master’s and PhD students and did not expect to win. “This was the first time I’d presented my project at an event, so I was surprised when my name was called for the first prize in my session. I wanted to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.”

“I am genuinely grateful to have had the opportunity to present months of research to my peers and experts in their fields. I will always look back at the event with fond memories. I am proud of myself and my fellow students for presenting their research at the symposium when others did not dare to,” he says.

Address shortcomings of current systems

Krause is supervised by Dr Nel and Dr Rouxan Fouché, lecturers in the Department of Computer Science and Informatics and this research project falls within the department’s research focus area of Blockchain Technologies, headed by Dr Nel. The digital transformation of industries, known as Industry 4.0 has already started, and blockchain forms part of the digital revolution. The research areas include blockchain algorithms and data structures, blockchain security, blockchain applications and crypto assets.

With the recent high-profile killings of two whistleblowers in South Africa and with many other whistleblowers becoming victims of intimidation and violence to silence them after their identities were exposed, the researchers believe it is necessary to conduct research and develop a computer system to address the glaring shortcomings of current systems.

“Our research identified blockchain technology as a potential solution that meets these needs. Blockchain provides an immutable structure, supports non-repudiation, and grants accessibility to all stakeholders. It has the potential to provide a security-focused system that preserves the confidentiality and integrity of evidence. The system involves the anonymous registration of whistleblowers, the processing and storage of evidence, and the use of cryptography to ensure the privacy of messages,” says Krause.

According to him, implementing this system in the real world, including the composition of the blockchain structure, seems daunting, especially regarding scalability and legal issues. With this project, he explains, they built a working blockchain system on a single computer. The project can be improved by expanding the blockchain system to multiple nodes communicating over a network. This improvement will take the Blockchain Whistleblower project from a concept to a valuable contribution to society.

How it works

“In a nutshell, this research has highlighted the potential of a blockchain-based whistleblower system to overcome the challenges surrounding corruption. It is a step forward in the fight against crime and the protection of those with the courage to expose misconduct. However, it is essential to continue with research and implementation to make this system a reality and fulfil its promise,” Dr Nel says.

Traditionally, Krause explains, a central system is used where a single organisation controls the system. The potential danger is that the system provider becomes a single point of failure for the system and, thus, a target for cyberattacks. Another concern of a centralised system is the organisation’s ability to manipulate data and uncover the identities of whistleblowers. The integrity of the evidence can also be questioned when it is stored in a centralised database where modifications from a single point of access can affect all data.

A centralised system, therefore, would not be reliable enough for the high-risk circumstances of whistleblowers. They have concluded that a distributed or decentralised system would be an appropriate solution to the problem. A distributed system will continue to function as a whole even if a part is compromised.

The Blockchain Whistleblower System aims to make a proof-of-concept contribution to the field of blockchain technology. The system is installed locally on the user’s computer, where whistleblowers and investigators use an anonymous profile to interact with the system, which interacts with the blockchain. After signing in, users can choose to report a new incident or view messages on the blockchain.

Reporting a crime

If the user wants to blow the whistle on a crime, the process starts with a report to gather more information about the incident. The whistleblower then selects the evidence of the crime on their computer. A hash function algorithm processes the evidence to create a fixed-length evidence hash. Hashing is a one-way cryptographic process that uniquely represents the input data. It is important to note that only the evidence hash is stored on the blockchain, not the evidence itself. The selected evidence is stored in a password-protected encrypted folder on the whistleblower’s computer. Investigators can later use this evidence hash to verify the integrity of the evidence when they eventually receive it.

What is next for this project?

Krause says he would like to implement his project with nodes communicating via a network in the future. A network opens a new box of security considerations to explore and discover and would also enable the programme to be used at any location, making it accessible to whistleblowers everywhere.

“This project started with the idea to protect whistleblowers’ identities and provide a platform for them to contact investigators safely. The end goal is for the project to provide a platform where whistleblowers can anonymously report misconduct, safely communicate with investigators, and verify the integrity of their evidence.

“My hope for the project is to build a better South Africa by fighting corruption, one of the biggest obstacles to our country’s growth. By solving the many challenges whistleblowers encounter, I hope to foster a culture where whistleblowers are not afraid to speak out against crime.”

News Archive

Situation on the Bloemfontein Campus, and letter to parents

2016-02-28

Letter to parents from Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS

Statement by Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS) about the situation on the Bloemfontein Campus

1.   As all of you know, last night we witnessed a really tragic event at Xerox Shimla Park on the Bloemfontein Campus on the occasion of the Varsity Cup rugby match between NMMU (FNB Madibaz) and UFS (FNB Shimlas).
2.   The game started at 18:30 and about 17 minutes into the match, a group of protestors sitting on the north-eastern side of the stadium decided to invade the pitch and disrupt the game in progress.
3.   After a short while, some of the spectators also invaded the field, chasing and brutally beating those protestors whom they caught.
4.   As a university leadership we condemn in the strongest terms possible the vicious attack on the protestors. Nobody, repeat nobody, has the right to take the law into their own hands. While the protests were illegal and disruptive, it did not harm to the physical well-being of the spectators.
5.   The reaction from the group of spectators, however, not only opened old wounds, it trampled, literally and figuratively, on the dignity and humanity of other human beings. This we condemn in no uncertain terms, and no stone will be left unturned to find those who acted so violently on what should have been a beautiful occasion that also brought families and young children together to enjoy an evening of sport.
6.   I cannot over-emphasise our level of disgust and dismay at the behaviour of the spectators. It is NOT what the University of the Free State (UFS) is about and we are working around the clock to gather evidence on the basis of which we will pursue both charges and, in the case of students, also disciplinary action on campus.
7.   At the same time, the invasion of the pitch is also completely unacceptable and we will seek evidence on the basis of which we will act against those who decided to disrupt an official university event.
8.   Clashes between students occurred afterwards on campus and members of the Public Order Policing had to disperse some of them. The situation was stabilised in the early hours of the morning.
9.   Disruption continued this morning (23 February 2016) when students damaged some university buildings, a statue, and broke windows. Additional reinforcements from the South African Police Service were brought in to stabilise the campus. Additional security has also been deployed.

Broader picture
10.   We are very aware of the national crisis on university campuses and the instability currently underway. While the UFS has been largely peaceful, we have not been spared this turmoil, as last night’s events showed.
11.   We are also conscious of the fact that even as we speak, various political formations are vying for position inside the turmoil in this important election year. In fact, part of the difficulty of resolving competing demands is that they come from different political quarters, and change all the time.
12.   We are therefore learning from reliable sources that the Varsity Cup competition is, in fact, a target of national protests in front of a television audience.
13.   And we are aware of the fact that these protests are not only led by students but also by people from outside who have no association with the university. Just as the violent spectators involved on Monday night also included people from outside the university.

The demands
14.   My team has worked around the clock to try to meet the demands of contract workers demanding to be in-sourced. In fact, this weekend past, senior colleagues sat with worker leaders in the township to try to find ways of meeting their demands. We were hoping that such an agreement would be finalised by Monday afternoon (22 February 2016), but on the same Monday morning workers and students were arrested after moving onto Nelson Mandela Avenue, after which the South African Police Service (SAPS) took over as the matter became a public safety concern outside the hands of the university. Since then, it was difficult to return the workers to settle on a possible agreement.
15.   The fact is that the UFS has been in constant negotiation with contract workers to provide our colleagues with a decent wage and certain benefits. In fact, towards the end of last year we raised the minimum wage from R2 500 to R5 000. We were in fact hoping that the continued negotiations would improve that level of compensation even as we looked at a possible plan for insourcing in the future. We made it clear that if we could insource immediately, we would, but that the financial risk to the university was so great that it threatened the jobs of all our staff. Those negotiations were going well, until recently, when without notice the workers broke away and decided to protest on and around campus.
16.   While these negotiations were going on, the Student Representative Council (SRC) on Monday 22 February 2016 also decided to protest. While the vast majority of our 32 000 students were in classes and determined to get an education, a very small group led by the SRC President decided to protest; some invaded the UFS Sasol Library and the computer centre, and with the President eventually made their way to Xerox Shimla Park on which route they confronted the police, interrupted traffic and in fact injured some of our security staff as well as police officials.
17.   The university is definitely proceeding to collect evidence on these illegal and violent acts and will also act firmly against students involved in these protests.

Summary
18.   The events of Monday night represent a major setback for the transformation process at the UFS. While we have made major progress in recent years—from residence integration to a more inclusive language policy to a core curriculum to very successful ‘leadership for change’ interventions for student leaders—we still have a long way to go.
19.   One violent incident on a rugby field and we again see the long road ahead yet to be travelled. As I have often said before, you cannot deeply transform a century-old university and its community overnight. We acknowledge the progress but also the still long and difficult path ahead. We will not give up.
20.   We have 32 000 students on our campuses; the overwhelming majority of them are decent and committed to building bridges over old divides as we have seen over and over again. So many of our students, black and white, have become close and even intimate friends working hard to make this a better campus and ours a better community and country. Like all of us, they are gutted by what they saw on Monday, but the hundreds of messages I received from parents, students, and alumni this past 20 hours or so said one thing—keep on keeping on. And we will.

The Big Read: An assault on transformation (Times Live kolom deur Prof Jonathan Jansen: 25 Februarie 2016)

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