8/21/2017 Dell TechnologiesVoice: How Blockchain Could Revolutionize The Internet Of Things

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TECH 6/27/2017 @ 10:41AM 31,255 views

How Blockchain Could Revolutionize

The Internet Of Things
Jason Compton , Dell Technologies

The billions of smart devices coming to the

internet of things could transform homes, cities
and lives. But they also could create a serious
security headache.

The centralized security model common in the

enterprise today will struggle to scale up to meet
the demands of the internet of things, or IoT.
And, with so many devices designed to be tiny
and unobtrusive, pulling them from circulation
could be difficult if they are captured in a botnet
or go rogue.

Blockchain provides assurances that the data is legitimate and that

the process introducing it is well-defined.

Blockchain, and the combination of

cryptographic processes behind it, offers an
intriguing alternative. Because blockchain is built
for decentralized control, a security scheme
based on it should be more scalable than a
traditional one. And blockchains strong
protections against data tampering would help
prevent a rogue device from disrupting a home,
factory or transportation system by relaying
misleading information.

Perfect Arrangement?

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8/21/2017 Dell TechnologiesVoice: How Blockchain Could Revolutionize The Internet Of Things
Blockchain is promising for IoT security for the
same reasons it works for cryptocurrency: It
provides assurances that data is legitimate, and
the process that introduces new data is well-
defined, said Ahmed Banafa, IoT expert and
lecturer at San Jose State University, who wrote a
popular overview of the potential for blockchain
to solve IoT security challenges.

The problem of IoT security needs solving

because data flowing from sensors and
embedded processors can change the way urban
planners lay out hospitals and bus stops.

But blockchain isnt a slam dunk. Bitcoin

presents a simpler problem to solve than IoT
security. With bitcoin, blockchain simply moves
wallets of currency from one anonymous owner
to another. Full-fledged device authentication,
security and control layers are more complex.

Just using blockchain to register a device

doesnt get you much, said Thomas Hardjono,
chief technology officer of MIT Connection
Science. We need infrastructure to manage
devices and control who has access to data.

In a recently published a paper, Hardjono

described a blockchain-based IoT framework
called ChainAnchor. This framework addressed
device security with activation and security layers
supported by device makers, data providers and
independent third parties.

In the paper, he argued that some or all of these

parties could be allowed to license or sell
anonymized data coming from IoT devices.
Receiving the data could create incentives for
outside agencies to participate in the blockchain,
bringing additional CPU power to support the
health of the system.

The proposed framework includes layers of

access that can keep out unauthorized devices or
cut bad actors (such as a hacked device) from the
network. It also includes cases for safely selling
and removing devices from the blockchain.

Researchers at the University of New South

Wales in Sydney, Australia, are taking a different
approach to blockchain-based IoT security. In
their model of a blockchain-secured smart home,
a high-powered block miner replaces the usual
internet router or media center to manage all
local network transactions. This device not only
manages the internal blockchain but also
controls communication between home-based
IoT devices and the outside world. It also
authorizes new IoT devices and could curtail or
cut off devices that are behaving badly. In this

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8/21/2017 Dell TechnologiesVoice: How Blockchain Could Revolutionize The Internet Of Things
model, even if a lightbulb is captured by a botnet,
the miner would see that the lightbulb is trying to
attack an outside server and block its packets
from leaving the home.

Blockchain Not A Panacea

One potential limitation of blockchain as an IoT

safeguard is the 51 percent attack problem.
Because blockchain works through consensus, if
51 percent of the processing power in a network
colludes to change a transaction, that change will
be accepted.

Having a wide diversity of nodes, physically

distributed around the globe, helps stave off 51
percent attacks on bitcoin. A small, private IoT
network in a home or single office building or
factory, however, is not physically distributed.
Consequently, a determined hacker could more
easily subvert 51 percent of the processing power
in a single location.

And although IoT devices are miracles of

engineering, they are still underpowered
compared to the hardware powering successful
blockchains. Blockchain processing tasks are
computationally difficult and time-consuming.
Many devices lack the processing power to
directly participate in a blockchain. This is for
good reason: The heavy computational load helps
protect integrity.

The proof-of-work step in blockchain creates

costs for someone who might want to flood a
network with fake information, said Christian
Catalini, an assistant professor at the MIT Sloan
School of Management in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.

The IoT smart home concept simplifies the

blockchain by reducing the proof-of-work
computational requirement typical of other
implementations.

Standard IoT devices cant do this kind of heavy

computational work, just like you cant mine
bitcoins on a standard laptop anymore, said
Salil Kanhere, an associate professor and
researcher at the University of New South Wales.
Relaxing those standards in a smart home
environment will help scale up adoption.

Even with simplified processing, the smart home

IoT described in Kanheres work needed more
processing and electrical power to complete
transactions, and suffered longer delays than a
conventional network architecture.

The Big Picture

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8/21/2017 Dell TechnologiesVoice: How Blockchain Could Revolutionize The Internet Of Things
Blockchains potential to transform the way we
think about IoT security is actually a side effect of
an even greater opportunity: to rethink problems
with online identity that have been festering for
decades.

The internet was not designed for the

transactions taking place today, Catalini said.
And our communication protocols dont have
enough information about the identity of
individuals or devices embedded in them.

The stakes are bigger than just keeping industrial

sensors online and fitness bands on task.
Tackling these challenges will create new
approaches to online identity, trustworthy
transactions and resilient networks.

Were in the early stages of rebuilding our

digital infrastructure, Catalini said.

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