A Performance Analysis of Security Protocols for Distributed Measurement Systems Based on Internet of Things with...

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Network Security
• Measurement Science

Background:

• Widespread adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) devices necessitates secure Distributed Measurement Systems (DMS).
• Cyber attacks on critical infrastructure and data retrieval are increasing exponentially.
• Existing security protocols for IoT can reduce network throughput, impacting measurement accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test and evaluate the network performance of commonly used security measures for IoT-based DMS on constrained hardware.
• To identify optimal security algorithms balancing data transmission, encryption ratios, and compatibility with Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) infrastructure.
• To assess performance in a worst-case scenario to allow for generalization of results for hardware-constrained solutions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a security-oriented Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) approach with local Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) brokers.
• Implemented Transport Layer Security (TLS) tunnels for local sensor data and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) tunnels for cloud transmission.
• Evaluated all OpenSSL cipher suites for compatibility with the Mosquitto server, measuring key metrics like throughput, runtime, and bandwidth across different Quality of Service (QoS) levels.

Main Results:

• Numerical and experimental results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed approach in predicting minimum network throughput based on QoS and security settings.
• Performance metric values varied based on operating system configurations, highlighting the need for careful selection of algorithms.
• Identified specific algorithms that ensure suitable data transmission and encryption ratios for geographically dispersed IoT DMS networks.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a framework for evaluating network performance of secure IoT DMS on constrained hardware.
• The findings facilitate the selection of appropriate security algorithms for reliable and efficient data transmission in challenging environments.
• Leveraging open firmware on constrained devices enhances customization for DMS, crucial for widespread adoption.