Use of Blockchain in Securing IoT systems with Resource Constrained Devices

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) systems have started becoming a part of our daily lives in our homes, hospitals, offices, and other settings. As the use of IoT devices continues to grow, the need for effective security and privacy solutions becomes important. In situations where multiple users need to interact with an IoT device or system, it is essential to have a secure and flexible approach to controlling access.One potential solution is to use Blockchain-based technologies, such as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), to provide secure and flexible access control. NFTs can serve as untamperable keys that allow access only to individuals who have been added as team members. This approach can help to prevent unauthorized access and to ensure that only authorized individuals can interact with the device. In addition, successful implementation of this approach across the IoT domain requires that the software is executable even on resource-constrained devices.In this paper, we present our approach that uses NFTs to control access to IoT devices. We demonstrate how this approach can be used to allow only authorized individuals to access the device, add new users to the device’s access list, and prevent unauthorized access. We also conduct an experimental study using ESP32 microcontrollers and Raspberry Pi to evaluate the performance of our approach. We find that the computational power required and the associated delays are within a few milliseconds, making this approach suitable for use even on resource-constrained devices. Overall, our results suggest that using NFTs for access control can provide a secure and flexible solution for IoT systems.