The benefits of introducing blockchain in the Internet of Things [full text]

Network Security Technology Exhibition dynamic infrastructure with things grow exponentially, security issues will become more common, therefore, an urgent need for more another security solution. Can the introduction of blockchain in the Internet of Things solve this crisis?

Since the advent of connected devices, the Internet of Things has shown great potential in many industries such as retail, manufacturing, and agriculture. The development of the Internet of Things also provides many applications for smart cities, such as traffic management and smart parking. Due to the increasing voice around the Internet of Things and the wide range of potential applications, 23.14 billion connected devices were installed globally in 2018, and it is expected to increase to 26.66 billion in 2019.

Despite rigorous research and active adoption, IoT infrastructure still faces major security issues. Therefore, some researchers and developers are exploring enhanced security protocols provided by blockchain. The blockchain has introduced a secure platform for cryptocurrency transactions. Similarly, the application of blockchain in the Internet of Things will also lead to the development of distributed ledgers for connecting multiple IoT devices. With this method, the data storage and network connection of IoT devices will be greatly improved.

Problems with centralized systems

In the mainstream applications of the Internet of Things, various Internet of Things devices and systems interact through a centralized system. Like any centralized network, the IoT infrastructure is also vulnerable to various forms of network attacks, such as malware attacks, denial of service attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, and brute force attacks. In addition, many IoT devices and software are vulnerable. Hackers can use these vulnerabilities to perform compelling cyber attacks. For example, the attacker of the popular rube goldberg attack used an IoT vulnerability called "Devil Ivy" to invade vulnerable cameras. Using this vulnerability, an attacker can reset the connected camera at the factory and gain super user access. With superuser access, attackers can easily watch live video from the camera.

Attackers can also invade multiple networked devices by invading the network. For example, a university has witnessed more than 5,000 IoT devices being attacked. The published report also includes campus IT staff finding that more than 5,000 discrete systems often perform hundreds of DNS lookups at 15-minute intervals, thereby slowing down the entire network. After further inspection, the IT staff found that the hackers were trying to perform brute force attacks through weak password IoT devices. In a similar manner, hackers can invade multiple networked devices to steal key data that affects the privacy of multiple users. Another major challenge of IoT infrastructure is the high computing and storage costs required to scale IoT solutions. As infrastructure continues to grow, the cost of installing and maintaining large server farms, centralized cloud, and network equipment will become increasingly expensive. Even if the necessary equipment and devices are installed, each node of the IoT infrastructure may face latency issues and affect the entire network in the event of a failure.

Leverage blockchain in the Internet of Things

The introduction of blockchain in the Internet of Things will benefit the Internet of Things infrastructure in the following ways:

â—† Reduce costs

Blockchain-based networks will create decentralized point-to-point connections between IoT devices. Compared with centralized systems, the blockchain in the Internet of Things will help various endpoints to process more data requests. In this way, data storage and computing tasks will be distributed in the blockchain-based network. As a result, organizations can reduce the storage and computing costs that are typically incurred when running centralized systems.

â—† Strengthen data exchange

IoT devices are constantly exchanging data with other devices and systems, and due to security issues and high network latency, exchanging data between different devices and systems can be complicated. However, using the blockchain in the Internet of Things, you can use a secure blockchain wallet to share the collected data. By using blockchain-driven wallets, various IoT sensors and wearable devices can share key data in an encrypted manner. In addition, the data stored in the blockchain wallet can only be accessed by authorized devices and systems.

â—† Enable smart contract

Blockchain-based smart contracts have multiple applications in supply chain management and can automate transactions after meeting predefined terms. Similarly, the blockchain in the Internet of Things will utilize the device-to-device interaction capabilities of the Internet of Things and introduce an automatic payment mechanism. For example, car owners can benefit from automatically purchasing fuel by installing special IoT sensors in the fuel pump that interact with IoT devices. The IoT device at the gas station will verify the vehicle and driver information stored in the vehicle's IoT sensor and automatically receive accurate payments.

Smart contracts based on blockchain will also benefit autonomous vehicles. Self-driving cars can exchange key information, such as traffic information, accident reports, and distance to other cars. In this way, car manufacturers can obtain more data and improve road decisions. In addition to these benefits, the blockchain in the Internet of Things will also enhance the security protocols of the IoT ecosystem. In addition, the blockchain will also provide public and private decentralized networks for secure data storage and data exchange.

â—† Use the blockchain in the Internet of Things to improve security and privacy

With the increasing popularity of IoT devices, large-scale protection of smart devices will become a key issue. However, as the blockchain joins the Internet of Things, a decentralized network will ensure data encryption throughout the network. If a cyber criminal obtains or changes the content of a file, the digital signature of the file will not match the original signature generated during the encryption process. Using this mechanism, you can verify the integrity of the data. In addition, the blockchain network can integrate a consensus model to detect malicious activities in the network and mitigate any identified threats. In addition, since data and computing tasks will be distributed on multiple nodes in the blockchain, even if any one node fails, the network will continue to operate effectively.

Through the blockchain in the Internet of Things, each IoT device can register a blockchain-based ID to help identify each device. To establish a machine-to-machine connection, the local blockchain wallet can send a digital signature request to the target device, and then the target device will use the sender's public key to verify the signature. Using this method, machine-to-machine authentication can be performed without any centralized authorization mechanism.

For maintenance purposes, developers can push encrypted hash-protected software updates as URLs on the blockchain network. To verify the software update, the IoT device can verify the encrypted hash of the update file. In addition, the blockchain in the Internet of Things will enable the system to record metadata to generate an immutable history of various IoT processing tasks, maintenance operations, and software updates to ensure regulatory compliance. These records can be shared with key participants in the organization as evidence of compliance with all laws and regulations. Blockchain networks can be public or private. Organizations can create private blockchain networks that only corporate leaders and employees can use. Such blockchain networks can be combined with authentication mechanisms to control data access. To this end, organizations can deploy smart contracts based on blockchain. Business leaders can define verification terms for employee details in smart contracts to automate the identity verification process.

Although the blockchain in the Internet of Things will make the IoT ecosystem more secure, the blockchain is not a "silver bullet" to save the Internet of Things. The introduction of blockchain will bring various restrictions, such as scalability issues, high processing power and time requirements of encryption algorithms, increased storage necessity and latency issues. With the continuous development of the Internet of Things, these shortcomings may become more serious. Therefore, developers need to address these limitations before the mainstream adoption of blockchain in the Internet of Things. Alternatively, organizations can deploy edge computing solutions to completely avoid blockchain-related problems. Through edge computing, all IoT data will be stored on the nodes to reduce latency and protect the data of the device itself. In this way, cloud and device interaction will only be used in the necessary scenarios and increase the overall speed of data processing in the Internet of Things. (Source: BBN Times, compilation: IOT Home)