Blockchain: A Security Solution for the IoT?

Abstract

Whenever there are strong statements from people that the Internet of Things (“IoT”) causes more evil than good, I wonder if the individuals that belong to such school of thought are inadvertently dismissing the opportunity to continuously extend the capability of an intelligent platform that arguably solves some of the world's greatest problems, made possible using billions of integrated smart devices connectivity. It is my view that the IoT like every other great invention can generally be used for both good and bad reasons, however, careful consideration regarding it implementation and use needs to be put in place. Technological advancements have reached a point where almost everything is wired up or connected wirelessly to the internet and the IoT has created opportunities for people to leverage on the benefits that comes with the interconnectivity of smart devices to collect data and make intelligent decisions. As evident in recent technological innovations, the advent of the IoT has led to significant progress in the field of science and technology. Today, the world has seen the widespread adoption of IP-based networking, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, development of robotics capability, and the growth of cloud computing. These technological developments and many others are bringing about significant revolutionary changes, suggesting the IoT is as transformative as the industrial revolution. As appealing as these advancements may seem, there are many questions challenging the overall security and privacy aspects of the IoT. This challenge is amplified by other considerations such as the rapid spread of similar IoT devices, the ability of some devices to automatically connect to other devices, and the possibility of deploying these devices in unsecure environments. Even though many security considerations have been put in place to guard against malicious activities targeted against the proper use of the IoT, reoccurring high-profile incidents where a single IoT device has been used to infiltrate attacks to larger network persists. Addressing the security concerns in an IoT environment could be made more effective by the implementation of a security model that has capabilities to negate any central attack to a larger IoT network even when a single point of entry is compromised. Although not without its own challenges, blockchain seems to have this capability, and has arguably drawn attention as the next generation technology that suits the end-to-end security requirements within an IoT environment.