Abstract
Data security is a major issue for smart home networks. Yet, different existing tools and techniques have not been proven highly effective for home networks’ data security. Blockchain is a promising technology because of the distributed computing infrastructure network that makes it difficult for hackers to intrude into the systems through the use of cryptographic signatures and smart contracts. In this paper, an architecture for smart home networks that could guarantee data integrity, robust security, and the ability to protect the validity of the blockchain transactions has been investigated. The system model is tested using various sizes of realistic datasets (30, 3 k, and 30 k to represent a small, medium, and large number of transactions, respectively). Four different consensus algorithms were considered, the conventional schemes concatenated hash transactions (CHT) and Merkle hash tree (MHT), as well as the newly proposed odd and even modified MHT (O&E MHT) and modified MHT (MMHT). Moreover, 15 hash functions were also examined and compared to understand the effects of each consensus algorithms on the data integrity verification check execution time and the time optimization provided by the proposed MMHT algorithm. The results show that even though the CHT algorithm gives the lowest execution time, it is impractical for a blockchain implementation due to the requirement to copy the entire blockchain ledger in real time. Meanwhile, the O&E MHT does not give any tangible benefit in the execution time. However, the proposed MMHT offers a minimum of 30% gain in time optimization than the conventional MHT algorithm typically used in blockchains. This work shows that the proposed MMHT consensus algorithm not only can identify malicious codes but has an improved data integrity check performance in smart homes, all while ensuring network stability.
Highlights
A large communication network of smart devices, sensors, and other consumer electronics such as a TV, refrigerator, and air conditioner in a home area network (HAN) has made communication and interaction among themselves very complicated and complex
The results shows that using the SHA3 hash function with the concatenated hash transactions (CHT) consensus algorithm has a low execution time compared to other algorithms and hash functions, but not low enough; the use of these hash functions and consensus algorithms has a lower execution time than those of Merkle hash tree (MHT) and odd and even modified MHT (O&E MHT) using the same hash function, which is not suitable for blockchain because of its complexity
While changing of the block order in the proposed modified Merkle hash tree (MMHT) algorithm comes with an advantage of reduced execution time, it increases the complexity of executing data maintenance functions, especially data recovery compared with the original MHT
Summary
A large communication network of smart devices, sensors, and other consumer electronics such as a TV, refrigerator, and air conditioner in a home area network (HAN) has made communication and interaction among themselves very complicated and complex. Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing interactive, efficient but secure network, various elements and factors such as data privacy, authentication, ease of use and maintenance, and high security standards against possible attacks are needed These robust and advanced features are possible using blockchain technology in the IoT system. The permissioned blockchains use different consensus protocols [16] to permit users to become authorized verifiers This type of blockchain uses a set of trusted parties to perform verification so that additional verifiers can become a part of the network. This can be achieved through the consensus of a current member and central authority of the blockchain.
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