As the old maxim goes, “Iron sharpens iron” and this is equally true of disruptive technologies as well. The last decade has seen IoT and Blockchain emerge as two of the most disruptive technologies that have fundamentally altered the course of different industries. However, there hasn’t been much interplay between these technologies as they have been almost mutually exclusive. But just like iron is needed to sharpen iron, one disruptive technology is sometimes essential to sharpen the other.
Let’s dig a little deeper into this. The Internet of Things has gained major traction over the last few years and has created measurable shifts in the way industries and individuals function. It has been widely estimated that there are around 25 billion connected devices in 2020 and this number is expected to be 75.44 billion in 2025.
While this augurs well for the impact that IoT will continue to create, it also raises concerns about the security of data captured across billions of connected devices. Ensuring high levels of security is made particularly challenging by the fact that integrated IoT solutions are driven by a centralized model which apart from being difficult to manage centrally is also plagued by high maintenance and infrastructure costs.
It is here that principles of Blockchain can add tremendous value by providing a unique way of ensuring high levels of data security and further bolstering the impact of IoT. To understand this in greater detail, I’m capturing below the unique security challenges of IoT and how Blockchain can help in providing a feasible solution.
Security Challenges associated with IoT
With IoT deployments on the rise, securing data contained in IoT devices has become paramount. A traditional client server architecture is highly prone to cyber-attacks due to their single point of security intelligence. Moreover, the ubiquity of connected devices makes them a soft target for security breaches that can compromise the entire ecosystem. On the other hand, a decentralized and distributed alternative provides a verifiable, secure and permanent method of recording data that is generated by these smart devices. Businesses that relied on expensive, complex data security systems can now rely on open source and vendor-neutral technologies like Blockchain.
Let us understand here the unique security challenges of IoT and how Blockchain enabled systems can help:
1) Data Privacy: Due to diversified integration of services, network device data is vulnerable to attack by compromising the nodes existing in an associate network. This can lead to an attacker being able to access data without the owner’s permission.
How Blockchain can help: Consortium blockchain can be used to provide data privacy in a blockchain network. Each sidechain is responsible to manage its own IoT data and nodes that are participating in one sidechain are not allowed to take part in the validation process of other sidechains. To access the data of a consortium blockchain network the node would first need to register and become part of that sidechain network. Consortium blockchain is baked in with access control and prevents unauthorized access.
2) Data Integrity: In a centralized client-server model, it is possible that an attacker may get unauthorized access to network, modify the original data and then forward it leading to a severe compromise in data integrity.
How Blockchain can help: In Blockchain, every node will have the same copy of records. Every node’s transaction is signed with its private key and forwarded for verification. All other miner nodes participate in validation to find the nonce. The node which finds the nonce first has the right to validate and get a reward. Moreover, the newly created block will be broadcast to all other nodes of the entire network. Once the record is loaded in blockchain it cannot be modified or deleted.
3) Third party Data Handling: Data collected in a centralized environment is stored and controlled by a third centralized entity that may misuse this data or provide it to someone else.
How Blockchain can help: Blockchain technology makes the devices capable of performing operations without an intermediary or third party, thus making it risk-free from a third party.
4) Trusted Data Origin: With the complexity and the number of connected devices in an IoT ecosystem, it is difficult to accurately establish the origin of data and how it might be altered during transmission.
How Blockchain can help: To track data in the blockchain network, a unique id is assigned to each IoT device. Data collected from a device is associated with this id and after hashing of the data, it is submitted to the entire network. As a result, the origin of data is established in a clear and unmistakable manner.
5) Illegal Use of Personal Data: In a conventional IoT setup, smart devices collect important information and forward it using the internet. Collected data could be anyone’s personal information that is stored in a centralized database, this increasing the chances of its confidentiality being compromised.
How Blockchain can help: A peer to peer storage system can verify and record all actions carried out on data transferred over an IoT network. The objective is to deliver decentralized storage wherever operators can have a command over their data as an alternate way of centralizing intermediary authority.
6) Access Control: Access control is one of the main issues in an IoT network. It is difficult to define in an IoT network the specific nodes that have the right to access and perform specific functions with data.
How Blockchain can help: By using smart contracts, programs for blockchain can be developed in which access rights and privileges are clearly defined. For instance, one can define as a rule that whenever a meter reaches 135 KW, devices will automatically switch to energy saving mode.
Blockchain can play a key role in addressing the security challenges arising from having multiple devices connected across a complicated IoT environment. The robustness of Blockchain brings about several use-cases like smart contracts, where transactions are carried out with no human intervention when a specific condition is met. Blockchains help in building trust, reducing costs, accelerating data exchange and improving security.
Ultimately, as newer technologies continue to develop, they will coalesce with each other at different points leading to enhancing their collective impact and providing holistic solutions to the problems they are meant to address.
is a Lead Business Analyst for the Data Center Technology business at Happiest Minds Technologies. He has more than 9 years of experience in working across several areas such as Telecom, Payments, Cloud and Industrial IoT. Outside of his core focus areas, Yogesh also contributes towards solution briefs, blogs and technology research.
