Toward Sensor Measurement Reliability in Blockchains

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Cryptography
• Distributed Systems

Background:

• Blockchains offer secure data processing, but data authenticity relies on trusted information sources (Oracles).
• IoT devices in uncontrolled environments pose challenges for data reliability and security in blockchain applications.
• Existing solutions lack comprehensive security for IoT Oracles transmitting sensor data to blockchains.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a holistic, secure architecture for IoT Oracles sending data to blockchain-based supply chains.
• To ensure the authenticity, integrity, trustworthiness, and freshness of data from IoT devices.
• To address the gap in secure IoT Oracle implementations for blockchain integration.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) for device integrity and trustworthiness.
• Developed a novel Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) leveraging blockchain for authenticity, traceability, and data freshness.
• Implemented and evaluated the solution on the Ethereum blockchain.

Main Results:

• The proposed architecture successfully addresses key security requirements for IoT Oracles.
• Demonstrated the feasibility of using HSMs and a blockchain-based PKI for secure data transmission.
• Evaluated performance concerning security requirements and response times on the Ethereum network.

Conclusions:

• The presented secure architecture provides a robust solution for integrating IoT devices as Oracles in blockchain systems.
• The combination of HSMs and a blockchain-based PKI enhances the reliability of data fed into supply chain applications.
• Future work will focus on addressing the identified flexibility limitations of the current design.