Can Blockchain Technology Enhance Security and Privacy in the Internet of Things?

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) has changed the traditional computing models. While it has enabled multiple new computing applications, it has also raised significant issues regarding security and privacy. We are gradually shifting to using extended computing architectures, the nodes of which may be lightweight devices limited in hardware resources, scattered in terms of network topology and too diverse in terms of hardware and software to be efficiently administered and managed. Additionally, such nodes usually store, process and transmit sensitive private data of their users; thus, the risk of a security breach is significantly high. Blockchain technology, introduced through Bitcoin, enables the development of secure decentralized systems. It offers guarantees regarding data integrity, application logic integrity and service availability, while it lags behind in terms of privacy and efficiency. Because of the decentralized architecture of blockchain systems, there seems to be a good fit between blockchain and the IoT. Blockchain systems can be employed to develop solutions to some of the main security and privacy issues encountered in the IoT domain. In this chapter we discuss the convergence of the two technologies, we analyze possible use cases, where blockchain technology can enhance internet of things security and privacy, and we propose enhancements of blockchain technology to make it appropriate for application in the IoT domain.