Secure access control to IoT devices using blockchain

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) is growing at an exponential rate but the area of privacy and security in IoT still remains unexplored. The existing algorithms or methods are mainly centralized and hence they are vulnerable due to their single point authentication topology. As it has been estimated that by 2020 there will be more ‘things’ than people on this earth the problem of security becomes a major concern in IoT networks, as a person having control to an IoT network will be able to control a large portion of an organization. Blockchain has recently been used to provide security to peer-to-peer networks. Blockchains are computationally expensive, heavyweight and are considered unsuitable for IoT architecture. In this paper a new lightweight and secure architecture for IoT by using Ethereum Blockchain retaining most of its security providing powers is proposed. Since Blockchain is decentralized it solves the single point authentication problem existing in IoT networks. A Smart Home System as a representative case study has been implemented for broader IoT applications. The two parameters measured are temperature and intrusion detection. The proposed model tackles some more challenges that exist in IoT networks. The Qualitative evaluation of the proposed architecture highlights how it tackles various attacks.