DeSA: Decentralized Secure Aggregation for Federated Learning in Zero-Trust D2D Networks

This research introduces DeSA, a protocol for secure aggregation (a privacy technique that protects individual data while combining results) in federated learning (a machine learning approach where multiple devices train a shared model without sending raw data to a central server) across decentralized device-to-device networks. The protocol addresses challenges in zero-trust networks (environments where no participant is automatically trusted) by using zero-knowledge proofs (cryptographic methods that verify information is correct without revealing the information itself) to verify model training, protecting against Byzantine attacks (attacks where malicious nodes send false information to disrupt the system), and employing a one-time masking method to maintain privacy while allowing model aggregation.