By. Cisco Internet Business Solution Group in 2020 will have more than 50 billion devices in the network IoTcollecting and processing various data.
Already today, all abuses related to the interception and use of private data cause that the producers of modern software are more and more often thinking about the use of new technologies allowing to provide network security.
Increase in popularity cryptocurrency makes software developers interested in technology blockchain, which can also be used to improve security in applications IoT Internet of Things (Internet of Things)
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Today, IoT and Blockchain are one of the fastest growing technologies.
Blockchain, as a decentralized and distributed database, works so that each device (node) has the same permissions, and the data exchange takes place through the transaction system between these nodes.
As soon as a transaction appears, the node informs all other devices about it, and the transaction is verified, and then added to the list of waiting for approval. A data block containing all transactions is created and verified.
Block chain types
-licensed - in which it is determined in advance which nodes can join the network and verify the others, which is safe and makes most commercial implementations use it;
-unlicensed (permissionless) - where each node can take part in the verification of the others, e.g. in Bitcoinie and other kryptowalutachwhere each device can join the network.
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encryption
Each transaction must be encrypted with a pair of keys: private and public. A given node "signs" the transaction with its private key, and then informs the others about its appearance. The attached public key allows the other nodes to verify the new transaction.
This digital signature contains information about the sender and the time the information was created. The fixed number of nodes now considers the block to be valid and is accepted into the chain.
Thanks to these protections, blockchain is safe and resistant to unauthorized data modification.
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Blockchain in IoT
When analyzing current solutions, however, there are some limitations to be considered, such as:
- network and most application security IoT depends on security clouds
- main server computing power is limited
The following conclusion follows:
In the event of a cloud failure, the entire network of devices ceases to function.
The solution is therefore to introduce Blockchain into IoT, which will eliminate these threats.
Thanks to database decentralization and security used in blockchain technology, unauthorized modification of data is almost impossible. In addition, the devices will be able to function properly even despite the failure of some of them.
challenges
-blockchain requires more cloud computing power, and many IoT devices don't have sufficient resources;
- block creation and verification require time, and even minimal communication delays are important in IoT;
-in blockchain, devices make decisions without the knowledge of the central server, so the question arises about the responsibility for the consequences of the error.