Blockchain Applicability in IoT Systems

Sammanfattning: Background. The Internet of things (IoT) combines sensors and connectivity and can be applied to a wide variety of things. The security in these IoT devices is usually constrained by their limited hardware. When IoT handles sensitive data, security becomes an important challenge. Blockchain technologies enable safe transactions between two parties without involving any third party. The technology provides integrity to the two parties, ensuring the transaction is valid. Objectives. The objectives of this paper is to examine the applicability of a blockchain in an IoT system. The paper aims to find out the current threat map to IoT, Identify the security benefits of blockchain technologies and investigate an IoT home security system on the market. Methods. The threat map of IoT and the benefits of blockchain technologies was determined by studying existing literature. IoT vulnerabilities were assessed with respect to exploitation difficulty and severity. The security level in the IoT home security system was evaluated with a penetration test. Results. The most critical vulnerabilities of IoT today are weak guessable passwords, insecure updating mechanisms, insecure ecosystem interfaces, insecure data transfer and storage and use of insecure of outdated components. A big reason for the poor security is the lack of integrity in IoT systems. The blockchains can provide integrity, authenticity, transparency, decentralisation and more. The security level of the IoT home security system has security countermeasures implemented to protect from a basic level of threats. Conclusion. The majority of the current threats to IoT can be mitigated with integrity provided by a blockchain. From a security perspective blockchain technologies prove to be worth considering.