Blockchain-Based Secure Firmware Update Using an UAV

Abstract

This paper proposes a blockchain-based firmware update method using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to solve one of the security issues arising in the Internet of Things (IoT) environment, which is the firmware security problem. It has high scalability and transaction speed using private blockchains and solves the limitations of internet connections by updating the firmware using an UAV. The proposed firmware update system safely manages the IoT device and firmware information through four processes: participant registration, firmware registration/update, firmware update request, and firmware update. The verification of IoT devices and UAVs is performed using the IoT device’s public key and Bloom filter, and firmware updates can be safely performed using public-key encryption communication. To prove the security of the proposed method, a security analysis based on the STRIDE model was conducted, and the performance of the blockchain network was analyzed by simulation on the Hyperledger.