On the security of permissioned blockchain solutions for IoT applications

Sotirios Brotsis; Nicholas Kolokotronis; Konstantinos Limniotis; Stavros Shiaeles

doi:10.1109/NetSoft48620.2020.9165480

On the security of permissioned blockchain solutions for IoT applications

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

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Computing

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference 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 language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization
Subtitle of host publication	Bridging the Gap Between AI and Network Softwarization, NetSoft 2020
Editors	Filip De Turck, Prosper Chemouil, Tim Wauters, Mohamed Faten Zhani, Walter Cerroni, Rafael Pasquini, Zuqing Zhu
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages	465-472
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Electronic)	9781728156842
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/NetSoft48620.2020.9165480
Publication status	Published - 12 Aug 2020
Event	6th IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization - Online, Belgium Duration: 29 Jun 2020 → 3 Jul 2020

Conference

Conference	6th IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization
Abbreviated title	NetSoft 2020
Country/Territory	Belgium
Period	29/06/20 → 3/07/20

Keywords

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

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10.1109/NetSoft48620.2020.9165480

On_the_security_of_permissioned_blockchain_solutions
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Accepted author manuscript (Post-print), 229 KB

Cite this

Brotsis, S., Kolokotronis, N., Limniotis, K., & Shiaeles, S. (2020). On the security of permissioned blockchain solutions for IoT applications. In F. De Turck, P. Chemouil, T. Wauters, M. F. Zhani, W. Cerroni, R. Pasquini, & Z. Zhu (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization: Bridging the Gap Between AI and Network Softwarization, NetSoft 2020 (pp. 465-472). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1109/NetSoft48620.2020.9165480

Brotsis, Sotirios ; Kolokotronis, Nicholas ; Limniotis, Konstantinos et al. / On the security of permissioned blockchain solutions for IoT applications. Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization: Bridging the Gap Between AI and Network Softwarization, NetSoft 2020. editor / Filip De Turck ; Prosper Chemouil ; Tim Wauters ; Mohamed Faten Zhani ; Walter Cerroni ; Rafael Pasquini ; Zuqing Zhu. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2020. pp. 465-472

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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.",

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Brotsis, S, Kolokotronis, N, Limniotis, K & Shiaeles, S 2020, On the security of permissioned blockchain solutions for IoT applications. in F De Turck, P Chemouil, T Wauters, MF Zhani, W Cerroni, R Pasquini & Z Zhu (eds), Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization: Bridging the Gap Between AI and Network Softwarization, NetSoft 2020. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., pp. 465-472, 6th IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization, Belgium, 29/06/20. https://doi.org/10.1109/NetSoft48620.2020.9165480

On the security of permissioned blockchain solutions for IoT applications. / Brotsis, Sotirios; Kolokotronis, Nicholas; Limniotis, Konstantinos et al.

Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization: Bridging the Gap Between AI and Network Softwarization, NetSoft 2020. ed. / Filip De Turck; Prosper Chemouil; Tim Wauters; Mohamed Faten Zhani; Walter Cerroni; Rafael Pasquini; Zuqing Zhu. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2020. p. 465-472.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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AU - Shiaeles, Stavros

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N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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ER -

Brotsis S, Kolokotronis N, Limniotis K, Shiaeles S. On the security of permissioned blockchain solutions for IoT applications. In De Turck F, Chemouil P, Wauters T, Zhani MF, Cerroni W, Pasquini R, Zhu Z, editors, Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization: Bridging the Gap Between AI and Network Softwarization, NetSoft 2020. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2020. p. 465-472 doi: 10.1109/NetSoft48620.2020.9165480

On the security of permissioned blockchain solutions for IoT applications

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