Collusion-free for Cloud Verification toward the View of Game Theory

BackgroundThis paper explores the use of blockchain technology and smart contracts in the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). It aims to identify the challenges and benefits of implementing smart contracts based on blockchain technology in the IoMT. It provides solutions and evaluates the IoMT uses in e-healthcare performance.MethodsA quantitative approach used an online survey from public and private hospital administrative departments in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). ANOVA, t-test, correlation, and regression analysis were performed to assess the e-healthcare performance with and without IoMT (smart contract based on blockchain).Patients and MethodsA mixed method was used in this research, a quantitative approach for data analysis utilizing online surveys from public and private hospitals’ administrative departments in Dubai, UAE. A correlation, regression through ANOVA, and independent two-sample t-test were performed to assess the e-healthcare performance with and without IoMT (smart contract based on blockchain).ResultsBlockchain application in smart contracts has proven to be significant in the healthcare sector. Results highlight the importance of integrating smart contracts and blockchain technology in the IoMT infrastructure to improve efficiency, transparency, and security. The study provides empirical evidence to support the implementation of smart contracts in the e-healthcare sector and suggests improved e-healthcare performance through this transition.ConclusionThe emergence of e-healthcare systems with upgraded smart contracts and blockchain technology brings continuous health monitoring, time-effective operations, and cost-effectiveness to the healthcare sector.

Thanks to its decentralized structure and immutability, blockchain technology has the potential to address relevant security and privacy challenges in the Internet of Things (IoT). In particular, by hosting and executing smart contracts, blockchain allows secure, flexible, and traceable message communication between IoT devices. The unique characteristics of IoT systems, such as heterogeneity and pervasiveness, however, pose challenges in designing smart contracts for such systems. In this paper, we study these challenges and propose a design approach for smart contracts used in IoT systems. The main goal of our design model is to enhance the development of IoT smart contracts based on the inherent pervasive attributes of IoT systems. In particular, the design model allows the smart contracts to encapsulate functionalities such as contractlevel communication between IoT devices, access to data-sources within contracts, and interoperability of heterogeneous IoT smart contracts. The essence of our approach is structuring the design of IoT smart contracts as self-contained software services, inspired by the microservice architecture model. The flexibility, scalability and modularity of this model make it an efficient approach for developing pervasive IoT smart contracts.

Remote healthcare monitoring (RHM) has become a pivotal component of modern healthcare, offering a crucial lifeline to numerous patients. Ensuring the integrity and privacy of the data generated and transmitted by IoT devices is of paramount importance. The integration of blockchain technology and smart contracts has emerged as a pioneering solution to fortify the security of internet of things (IoT) data transmissions within the realm of healthcare monitoring. In today’s healthcare landscape, the IoT plays a pivotal role in remotely monitoring and managing patients’ well-being. Furthermore, blockchain’s decentralized and immutable ledger ensures that all IoT data transactions are securely recorded, timestamped, and resistant to unauthorized modifications. This heightened level of data security is critical in healthcare, where the integrity and privacy of patient information are nonnegotiable. This research endeavors to harness the power of blockchain and smart contracts to establish a robust and tamper-proof framework for healthcare IoT data. Employing smart contracts, which are self-executing agreements programmed with predefined rules, enables us to automate and validate data transactions within the IoT ecosystem. These contracts execute automatically when specific conditions are met, eliminating the need for manual intervention and oversight. This automation not only streamlines the process of data processing but also enhances its accuracy and reliability by reducing the risk of human error. Additionally, smart contracts provide a transparent and tamper-proof mechanism for verifying the validity of transactions, thereby mitigating the risk of fraudulent activities. By leveraging smart contracts, organizations can ensure the integrity and efficiency of data transactions within the IoT ecosystem, leading to improved trust, transparency, and security. Our experiments demonstrate the application of a blockchain approach to secure transmissions in IoT for RHM, as will be illustrated in the paper. This showcases the practical applicability of blockchain technology in real-world scenarios.

In recent years, the blockchain technology has been widely used in the Internet of Things (IoT). One of the major concerns is how to adopt a smart contract to process data from IoT devices flexibly. While plenty of smart contract-based methods can be used, smart contracts are required to be deployed previously. This requires an additional step (to deploy a smart contract) and makes a smart contract separate from its data (transactions to trigger its interface), which generates limitations in IoT scenarios. In this article, we developed an approach to embed the smart contract and its data into the same transaction, eliminating the need for a predeployment step. Data is employed as parameters to invoke the interface of a smart contract, and the smart contract is used to process the data inside the transaction. With this method, a smart contract does not need other transactions from the user. Results indicate that the proposed method can eliminate the requirement of a separately deployed smart contract, saving costs, and waiting time for the predeployment.

Dredas: Decentralized, reliable and efficient remote outsourced data auditing scheme with blockchain smart contract for industrial IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a key enabler technology that recently received significant attention from the scientific community across the globe. It helps transform everyone’s life by connecting physical and virtual devices with each other to offer staggering benefits, such as automation and control, higher productivity, real-time information access, and improved efficiency. However, IoT devices and their accumulated data are susceptible to various security threats and vulnerabilities, such as data integrity, denial-of-service, interception, and information disclosure attacks. In recent years, the IoT with blockchain technology has seen rapid growth, where smart contracts play an essential role in validating IoT data. However, these smart contracts can be vulnerable and degrade the performance of IoT applications. Hence, besides offering indispensable features to ease human lives, there is also a need to confront IoT environment security attacks, especially data integrity attacks. Toward this aim, this paper proposed an artificial intelligence-based system model with a dual objective. It first detects the malicious user trying to compromise the IoT environment using a binary classification problem. Further, blockchain technology is utilized to offer tamper-proof storage to store non-malicious IoT data. However, a malicious user can exploit the blockchain-based smart contract to deteriorate the performance IoT environment. For that, this paper utilizes deep learning algorithms to classify malicious and non-malicious smart contracts. The proposed system model offers an end-to-end security pipeline through which the IoT data are disseminated to the recipient. Lastly, the proposed system model is evaluated by considering different assessment measures that comprise the training accuracy, training loss, classification measures (precision, recall, and F1 score), and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.

The rapid advancement of the Internet of Things (IoT) is reshaping industries by enabling seamless communication between devices, real-time data collection, and automation. Given the surge in IoT applications, challenges related to security, scalability, and interoperability have become increasingly critical. This study presents a state-of-the-art software engineering framework designed to address these limitations through the integration of blockchain technology and smart contracts. By leveraging the decentralized, immutable, and transparent nature of blockchain, the proposed framework enhances trust and security within IoT environments. Smart contracts, as secure, self-executing code, facilitate autonomous interactions between IoT devices without relying on centralized control. Additionally, the framework introduces novel strategies for optimizing resource management and data handling efficiency while improving system scalability across distributed networks. The synergistic use of blockchain and smart contracts not only resolves key IoT challenges but also contributes to the development of robust, efficient, and scalable IoT ecosystems. The framework is applicable across diverse domains, including healthcare, smart cities, supply chain management, and industrial automation, fostering innovative, self-governing IoT systems throughout their operational lifecycle.

The speedy growth of cryptocurrencies in recent years and Blockchain technology has revived smart contracts (SC). Decentralization, verifiability, and enforceability are SC characteristics that allow contract terms to be enforced between untrustworthy parties without the interference of a central server or centralized authority. Traditional sectors, such as finance, the Internet of Things (IoT), and management, are expected to be transformed by smart contracts. Smart contracts could be used in a wide range of scenarios in the digital economy and smart industries such as banking, marketing, sanitation, and the IoT. Not only that, but the SC may also provide improvements in the mainstream development process. For the security of information in distributed networks, Blockchain systems such as Ethereum and Hyperledger are trending. The problems related to privacy and security of information need enhancement through analysis, and we discuss the same in this chapter. Blockchain creates secure smart contracts and has some unique features, including: (a) The Smart Contract software code is recorded and tested on the Blockchain, thereby rendering the Contract resistant to interference. (b) The smart contract execution is imposed anonymously, trustless single nodes with no centralized power and cooperation of third-party administrations. (c) The Smart Contract acts as an intelligent agent with its cryptocurrency (or possibly other digital assets) to transfer when certain conditions are met. Smart contracts are computer protocols that use Blockchain technology to digitally verify, facilitate, and enforce agreements between two or more parties. This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of Blockchain-based Smart Contracts and their emerging research fields.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of sensors that helps collect data 24/7 without human intervention. However, the network may suffer from problems such as the low battery, heterogeneity, and connectivity issues due to the lack of standards. Even though these problems can cause several performance hiccups, security issues need immediate attention because hackers access vital personal and financial information and then misuse it. These security issues can allow hackers to hijack IoT devices and then use them to establish a Botnet to launch a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. Blockchain technology can provide security to IoT devices by providing secure authentication using public keys. Similarly, Smart Contracts (SCs) can improve the performance of the IoT–blockchain network through automation. However, surveyed work shows that the blockchain and SCs do not provide foolproof security; sometimes, attackers defeat these security mechanisms and initiate DDoS attacks. Thus, developers and security software engineers must be aware of different techniques to detect DDoS attacks. In this survey paper, we highlight different techniques to detect DDoS attacks. The novelty of our work is to classify the DDoS detection techniques according to blockchain technology. As a result, researchers can enhance their systems by using blockchain-based support for detecting threats. In addition, we provide general information about the studied systems and their workings. However, we cannot neglect the recent surveys. To that end, we compare the state-of-the-art DDoS surveys based on their data collection techniques and the discussed DDoS attacks on the IoT subsystems. The study of different IoT subsystems tells us that DDoS attacks also impact other computing systems, such as SCs, networking devices, and power grids. Hence, our work briefly describes DDoS attacks and their impacts on the above subsystems and IoT. For instance, due to DDoS attacks, the targeted computing systems suffer delays which cause tremendous financial and utility losses to the subscribers. Hence, we discuss the impacts of DDoS attacks in the context of associated systems. Finally, we discuss Machine-Learning algorithms, performance metrics, and the underlying technology of IoT systems so that the readers can grasp the detection techniques and the attack vectors. Moreover, associated systems such as Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) are a source of good security enhancement for IoT Networks. Thus, we include a detailed discussion of future development encompassing all major IoT subsystems.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to change the way the world works from home automation to smart cities, from improved healthcare to an efficient management sys-tem in supply chains to industry 4.0 revolution. IoT is increasingly becoming an essential part of the homes and industrial automa-tion; nevertheless, there are still many challenges that need to fix. IoT solutions are costly and complicated, while issues regarding security and privacy must be addressed with a sustainable plan. Support the growing number of connected devices; the IoT is in dire need of a reboot. Blockchain technology might be the answer. Starting as a decentralized financial solution in the form of Bitcoin, Blockchain technology has expanded to diverse areas and Information Technology applications. Blockchain technology and Smart Contracts can address the outstanding security and privacy issues that impede further development of the IoT. Blockchain is a decentralized system with no central governance, facilitates interactions, promotes new and improved transaction models, and allows autonomous coordination of the devices using enhanced encryption techniques. The primary reason for this paper is to showcase the challenges and problems we are facing with the current internet of things solutions and analyze how the use of Blockchain and Smart Contracts can help achieve a new, more robust internet of things system. Finally, we examine some of the many projects using the Internet of Things together with Blockchain and Smart Contracts, to create new solutions that are only possible by integrating these technologies.

The article examines methods and information technologies aimed at ensuring the secure integration of the Ethereum blockchain with Internet of Things (IoT) systems. The relevance of the study is driven by the rapid development of IoT, which is accompanied by increasing cybersecurity threats, including unauthorized data access, man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, device identifier spoofing, and the low transparency of centralized systems. The use of Ethereum blockchain technology, particularly smart contracts, opens new opportunities for creating decentralized security management models for IoT devices, enhancing trust levels, automating processes, and minimizing third-party interference risks. The “Problem statement” section outlines the key challenges in securing IoT networks, including the vulnerabilities of centralized solutions, limited computational resources of devices, and the need to develop autonomous access control systems. The “Analysis of Recent Research and Publications” section summarizes modern approaches to integrating Ethereum blockchain into the IoT field, including tokenized identification mechanisms, access control, and transaction processing using smart contracts. It is noted that leading researchers suggest Layer-2 solutions (state channels, zk-rollups, Plasma) aimed at reducing the load on the main blockchain and improving scalability. The aim of the article is to systematize modern methods of integrating the Ethereum blockchain with IoT and develop recommendations for their implementation, considering the limited resources of devices. The “Research results” section presents a secure IoT system architecture concept based on decentralized account management, local storage of cryptographic keys on devices, the use of optimized transaction signing algorithms, and the introduction of a hybrid data storage model based on IPFS. The proposed model minimizes the risk of unauthorized access, increases transparency in the interaction between IoT devices, and reduces computational resource costs. The “Conclusions and prospects for further research” section emphasizes that the implementation of the Ethereum blockchain in IoT promotes the development of secure decentralized platforms. However, it requires addressing issues such as energy consumption, transaction costs, and optimizing client applications for low-performance devices. Future research should focus on developing effective scalability tools, adapting smart contracts to IoT specifics, and improving integration with cloud computing platforms for storing large data sets.

The rapid evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) has led to the growth of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), encompassing interconnected medical devices, wearable sensors, and healthcare systems. IoMT extends the capabilities of IoT into the healthcare sector, representing a promising technology for the future of healthcare. The underlying technology has transformed the healthcare landscape by continuously collecting patient data in real time and providing a remote monitoring and diagnostic system. However, IoMT introduces significant challenges in data security, privacy, and system reliability due to centralized data storage models, which can create a single point of failure and raise concerns about privacy and security. To address these challenges, this research proposes a blockchain‐based framework to enhance data security and privacy by decentralizing data storage and managing device authentication using smart contracts. Given the sensitive nature of medical data and the potential repercussions of security breaches, each medical device has a unique digital identity represented by a blockchain‐based smart contract, supporting the multi‐device mapping required for managing multiple diseases in healthcare diagnosis and treatment. This approach enhances healthcare security and efficiency. A proof‐of‐work mechanism ensures secure transaction validation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed framework significantly improves data integrity and security while optimizing system performance, as measured by gas consumption and latency. The assessment demonstrates the feasibility of employing blockchain technology to enhance the security and privacy of the IoMT healthcare system, providing a robust solution to existing security challenges and protecting patient data.

Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of smart devices that can communicate with each other without or with little human interaction. Maintaining security and trust among these millions of smart devices is a big concern because the transportation of their information generally takes place over the Internet. Limited resources available in IoT devices makes it more difficult to apply conventional security protocols. Moreover, IoT devices are generally located in such remote areas where unethical means can easily not only access them and inject false data but also completely replace them. This physical access can make other devices vulnerable to different attacks, so trust among these IoT devices is a critical factor. Trust management can be considered an important factor for a successful IoT system in which smart devices can communicate with one other without worry of security and integrity of data. Trust management is the process of identifying malicious and unwanted nodes or devices and removing them from any communication process. Key parameters of trust management in IoT systems are authentication, authorization/access control, integrity, privacy, and adaptability that depend on some direct measurable and non-measurable factors. However, despite numerous security solutions in IoT systems, there are some attacks specially designed by unethical means to manipulate the trust values in trust management systems. These attacks need to be addressed for the proper functioning of trust management systems in the IoT.Blockchain, which is mainly known for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, has proven its effectiveness in data immutability, integrity, and decentralized ledgers and can be a perfect solution for many security and trust-related problems of the IoT. Additionally, advancement in blockchain technology can improve its applicability in securing and managing trust in the IoT. For instance, smart contracts that enable programmability in blockchain can make processing of data conditional and automated. Security features of blockchain, such as authentication, integrity, access control, etc., can be used for managing trust among IoT devices by protecting them from security attacks.Initially, blockchain was designed to be public in nature, where anyone can join and send transactions, and the same data are transparently distributed among all the participants. But in real-world scenarios, we need more control over accessing services. Permissioned blockchain such as Hyperledger Fabric, which is specially designed for business needs can provide more control over the functioning of available services. In Hyperledger Fabric, data are distributed among authorized entities only and all activities are controlled by the admin entity. For authentication, every entity in Hyperledger Fabric has a unique identity provided by some Certification Authority (CA) using X.509 protocols. It also supports smart contracts or chaincodes that provide more control over invoking transactions in its network.This chapter will introduce trust management in IoT systems with its issues and all possible trust-related security attacks on it. It will also discuss important trust parameters that need to be addressed for a successful trust management system. After it, an introduction to blockchain technology with its supported protocols will be explained in this chapter. The evolution of blockchain, its various variants, and applications will also be discussed in the book chapter. The chapter will mainly focus on Hyperledger Fabric, which is a permissioned blockchain, and will define its architecture, security features, and working mechanisms.The chapter will also explain blockchain and IoT integration issues in detail and then expose their solutions with multiple strategies such as the Inter IoT model, IoT blockchain, and the cloud-based IoT blockchain model. Finally, the chapter will describe six important trust management issues in IoT such as “Trust in Authentication,” “Trust in Identity Management,” “Trust in Integrity of Data,” “Trust in Authorization,” “Trust in Interoperabilty,” and “Trust in Privacy.” Thereafter, the chapter will expose their possible solutions using Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain. These solutions will be useful for managing trust in IoT scenarios, as well as for industrial IoT, blockchain, and IoT enthusiasts, students, Ph.D. scholars, and researchers.

When it comes to the use of the Internet of Things (IoT), the healthcare sector is set to become the next frontier of the digital revolution thanks to the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). Due to their weight, importance, and sensitivity, these files must be protected in the strictest manner. Now that blockchain is becoming more widespread, scientists are concentrating on how to use blockchain tactics within healthcare management to improve data security. Nevertheless, owing to the differing needs of these two technologies, such integration is exceptionally complex and demanding. In order to help users, take full control of their data, this study provides an overview of the current state of blockchain platforms for the IoMT by focusing on the difficulties presented by combination systems. This article will examine blockchain's use in healthcare IoT, including supply chain transparency, health data arrangement, smart contracts, and IoT security for remote monitoring. The final portions focus on challenges and potential developments in the future.

The global reality of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is evidenced by the adoption of Big Data analytics, Cloud Computing, Blockchain (cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, etc.), and the Internet of Things (smart buildings, artificial neural networks, machine learning, smart cities, etc.) which are becoming integrated into national legislation. As a result, countries must prioritize digitalization to keep pace with Industry 4.0. Smart legal contracts, which serve as a bridge between law and digitalization, are relatively new and challenging development for national legal systems. Although only a few countries have legally regulated smart legal contracts, all national legal systems will inevitably follow suit. This article aims to assess the North Macedonian legal system’s existing legislation and determine the optimal approach to integrating smart contracts. Should a new, special law (lex specialis) be enacted, or should provisions for smart legal contracts be added to the existing legal framework? The EU’s legal tendencies should also be considered to ensure North Macedonian law is harmonized with European Law. The structure of the article unfolds as follows: Introduction; The concept and main characteristics of smart legal contracts, Smart legal contracts concerning the North Macedonian Law on Obligations; Smart legal contracts concerning the North Macedonian Law on electronic commerce; New Law on smart legal contracts or amending the existing legislation in North Macedonia?, and Conclusion remarks. To achieve its goals, this article will employ several research methods, including normative analysis, descriptive and legal research, and applied legal research, comparison, analogy, and case law analyses.