On the security of permissioned blockchain solutions for IoT applications

Sotirios Brotsis*, Nicholas Kolokotronis, Konstantinos Limniotis, Stavros Shiaeles

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

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Abstract

The blockchain has found numerous applications in many areas with the expectation to significantly enhance their security. The Internet of things (IoT) constitutes a prominent application domain of blockchain, with a number of architectures having been proposed for improving not only security but also properties like transparency and auditability. However, many blockchain solutions suffer from inherent constraints associated with the consensus protocol used. These constraints are mostly inherited by the permissionless setting, e.g. computational power in proof-of-work, and become serious obstacles in a resource-constrained IoT environment. Moreover, consensus protocols with low throughput or high latency are not suitable for IoT networks where massive volumes of data are generated. Thus, in this paper we focus on permissioned blockchain platforms and investigate the consensus protocols used, aiming at evaluating their performance and fault tolerance as the main selection criteria for (in principle highly insecure) IoT ecosystem. The results of the paper provide new insights on the essential differences of various consensus protocols and their capacity to meet IoT needs.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 2020 IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization
Subtitle of host publicationBridging the Gap Between AI and Network Softwarization, NetSoft 2020
EditorsFilip De Turck, Prosper Chemouil, Tim Wauters, Mohamed Faten Zhani, Walter Cerroni, Rafael Pasquini, Zuqing Zhu
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages465-472
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9781728156842
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Aug 2020
Event6th IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization - Online, Belgium
Duration: 29 Jun 20203 Jul 2020

Conference

Conference6th IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization
Abbreviated titleNetSoft 2020
Country/TerritoryBelgium
Period29/06/203/07/20

Keywords

  • Consensus protocols
  • Cyber-security
  • Fault tolerance
  • Internet of things
  • Permissioned blockchains

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