ITC571 Emerging Technologies: IoT Cloud Security with Blockchain

This report provides an overview of IoT, its applications, architecture, and the security challenges associated with cloud-based IoT systems. It discusses vulnerabilities like identity privacy, data breaches, and DoS attacks. The report then introduces blockchain technology as a solution, explaining its architecture, working principles, and benefits over traditional cloud storage. It compares cloud and block storage, highlighting the advantages of blockchain in enhancing security and addressing the limitations of centralized cloud systems in IoT environments. Desklib provides access to this report and other solved assignments for students.

WEEKLY REPORT
Week – 5
IoT Cloud-based security issues: Blockchain technology as a
solution
Name : Kanakadurga Sridevi Maddipati
Student ID : 11606404
Subject : Emerging Technologies and
Innovations
Subject Code : ITC571
Staff : Dr Chandana Withana

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 What is IoT and definition of IoT
 Definition of IoT basic terms
 IoT device
 IoT ecosystem
 Entity
 Physical layer
 Network layer
 Application layer
 Data storage
 Applications of IoT
 Health Care
 Wearables
 Connect Vehicles
 Home Automation
 Location-based services
 Smart Meters
 Major components or functional blocks of IoT
 Device and sensor
 Gateway
 Cloud
 Analytics
 Application/User interface
 IoT Architecture layers and its relationship with the components
 Challenges associated with cloud-based IoT
 Identity Privacy
 Location Privacy
 Node Compromise Attack
 Target-oriented compromise attack
 Layer Removing/Adding Attack
 Forward and Backward Security
 Semi-Trusted or Malicious Cloud Security
 Data Breach

 Shared technologies vulnerabilities
 Account or service traffic hijacking
 Denial of service (DoS) attacks
 Malicious insiders
 Cloud and what are the different types of clouds
 Structure of Cloud
 Features of Cloud
 Centralized cloud storage and what are its security issues
 What is blockchain technology and explain its architecture
 Explain the working of blockchain technology and its applications
 Compare cloud storage and block storage
 Benefits of moving from cloud storage to blockchain

Everything in its way to be computerized and most of the objects are coming to be
smart in present days. Modern Internet of Thing (IoT) allows these objects to be on
the network by using IoT platforms. The internet of things (IoT) information can
be shared among certain devices through the internet. Such devices are smart-
devices include smartphones, tablets, PCs, wearables, sensors and so on. Many
other smart devices have been introduced recently which can communicate with
each other using the internet and other communication techniques. These
techniques include RFID, near-field communications, various types of barcodes,
and so on. The capabilities of communications in IoT are built-in and allow new
services. The frequent increase in the smart devices connected to the internet lead
to the increase in several issues related to flexibility, security, efficiency and
scalability. According to Sharma, et al. (2017), the blockchain technology is the
solution utilized for resolving the issues as it supports in developing effective
architecture for IoT that help in advancing the security aspects.
Definition of IoT and its basic terms:
There is no universal definition for the term IoT; different definitions are used by
different parties, foundations, and groups to describe a specific view of what IoT
means. The goal that needs to be accomplished for the IoT is integrity,
confidentiality and authentication (Cheng, et al. 2017).
IoT or Internet of Things is defined as a system that permits the devices for
communicating with each other directly without human intervention. IEEE, in its
special report on Internet of things described IoT as "A network of items-each
embedded with sensors which are connected to the Internet" (Special Report: The
Internet of Things). In 2016, The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
published a requirement of the network for the Internet of things and IoT is defined

as a global infrastructure for society of information that enables interconnected
things to communicate with each other and performs advance services-based on
existing and evolving interoperable information and communication technologies
(Requirements of the network for the Internet of things, 2016).
According to Cheng, et al. (2017), there is the requirement of cryptographic
primitives and advanced algorithms like advanced encryption standard (AES) with
intention to amplify the confidentiality and security aspects for IoT. The
communication in the IoT needs to be secured with intention to enhance
confidentiality and maintain trustworthiness.
In The Internet of Things: An Overview (2015), IoTis defined as a framework
wherein all things have a representation and existence in the internet. IoT goals for
offering new applications and services bridge both physical and virtual
worlds.Also, IoT is defined as internet of three things: People to people, People to
machine, machine to machine, Interacting through internet.
According to Gil, Ferrández, Mora-Mora, & Peral (2016), there are numerous
visions about IoT starting with various perspectives. As of the viewpoint from
services, IoT implies our current reality, the place where things could naturally
correspond with one another giving the profit to the mankind. From the viewpoint
of connectivity, IoT intends anytime, anywhere connectivity for anyone and
anything. From that viewpoint about communication, IoT alludes a world-wide
system of interconnected things or devices that are particularly addressable
considering standard conventions. Lastly, starting with the viewpoint from
networking, IoT may be the web developed from a system of interconnected
machines with a system of interconnectedness devices.
(Meddeb, 2016) describes the terms as follows:

 Internet of Things: Network of internet connected devices that gather
information and return information using sensors.
 IoT device: Any internet-connected device that could be monitored or
controlled within a remote area.
 IoT ecosystem: Components that allow businesses, governments, customers
to connect with IoT devices like remotes, dashboards, networks, gateways,
analytics, information storage, security.
 Entity: Businesses, governments, and customers are the entities.
 Physical layer: Hardware of an IoT devices.
 Network layer: Liable for transmitting the information gathered by the
physical layer.
 Application layer: Protocols for devices to communicate with one another.
 Data storage: Place where information from IoT devices will be kept.

Applications of IoT:
With the fast improvement of IoT, there are various IoT applications, which help in
our ordinary existence. Starting with accepted supplies or equipment’s to
household appliances these devices assist the mankind (Wang, Hu, Hu, Zhou, &
Zhao, 2016). IoT is applied broadly over different areas such as environment
monitoring, energy management, medical healthcare systems (Deng, Chen, Tsaur,
Tang, & Chen, 2017), wearables, building automation, transportation, vehicles,
industries, schools (Gromovs & Lammi, 2017), smart home and agriculture. Gil,
Ferrández, Mora-Mora, & Peral (2016) says that, these are various potential
applications of IoT which is further derived from health domain, industrial domain,
smart city domain.
The following applications and examples are popular IoT products. Figure 1
illustrates IoT applications:
 Health Care: IoT Healthcare applications are built to serve the people,
which innately raise the necessities of reliability, security and safety.
Moreover, the applications must provide notifications and responses with
respect to the status of patients. A healthcare management system must
ascertain the safety of patients by observing patients' activities and key
signs. A healthcare management system should offer precise results in a
timely fashion and should provide secure and reliable services for
caregivers, physicians and patients (Miranda, et al., 2016).
 Wearables: These are device-to-device developments that are part of health
domain. Many wearable products have been implemented. For example:
wearable healthcare devices. One of the newest wearable items is Google

Glass device which is enabled people to use numerous Internet applications
on the go.
 Connect Vehicles: These are part of vehicles and transportation
applications. For example, the car navigation system or mapping
applications of the smartphones that enabled people to find their way for
unfamiliar places (Zhang, Chen, Chen, & Chen, 2016).
 Home Automation: usually, these systems use small data packets of
information satisfy the communication between devices with relatively low
data rate requirements. Smart thermostats, smart appliances, intelligent
lighting, and many other smarted house devices are automation scenarios.
 Location-based services: many useful services of location-based can also
provide by Internet of Things. Automate notifications, tracking children,
eldercare, and location-based marketing are examples of location-based
services (Dinh, Kim, & Lee, 2017).
 Smart Meters: Smart meters are advanced smart home facilities which are
built with network connectivity that permit investigation and examination of
the energy consumed and produced toward individual dwellings, in
distinctive circuits and comparing appliances inside every dwelling, for
example, water heaters and solar panels. Information gathered using smart
meters can be evaluated on request of both clients and distributors. Thus,
smart meters let distributors to set their prices based on these analyses
(Lloret, Tomas, Canovas, & Parra, 2016).

Figure 1: Applications of IoT (Web of Things at W3C, 2017)

Major components or functional blocks of IoT:
An IoT system is comprised of several functional blocks that enable different
utilities of the framework such as, sensing, identification, actuation,
communication, and management. Lomotey, Pry, & Chai (2017) explains these
components as in figure 2 displays and they are described beneath:
 Device and sensor: IoT framework is dependent upon devices that offer
detecting, actuation, observing, and control events. IoT devices swap
information with other joined devices and application. Else gather
information from different units and process the information. Otherwise
send information to central servers or cloud-based application. Perform few
tasks inside IoT system depending on space imperatives such as memory,
managing capabilities, speed.
Different types of IoT devices exist, for instance wearables, smart watches,
sensor lights, automobiles etc. Nearly all IoT devices provides information
which is transformed for information analytics, will provide prompt and
appropriate data that can be further used in necessary acts (Sicari, Rizzardi,
Miorandi, Cappiello, & Coen-Porisini, 2016). For example, sensor data
provided by a smart appliance like fridge that notifies user that the milk is
below the threshold allows the user to plan ahead for his/her needs.
An IoT device might comprise about numerous interfaces for
communicating with several other devices including both wired and wireless
(Lomotey, Pry, & Chai, 2017). They are:
 I/O interfaces for sensors
 Interfaces for internet connectivity
 Memory and storing interfaces

 Audio/Video interfaces
 Gateway: Enormous amount of data will be generated by the sensors which
needs a strong and secured wired or wireless network transport medium.
Existing networks frequently involve with extremely different protocols that
are needed to help machine-to-machine (M2M) networks and applications.
Due to the necessity to serve a wider extent of IOT services several networks
having different technologies and access protocols are required to deal with
one another. These networks could be a private, public or hybrid model.
 Cloud: Cloud appears to be the best innovation that could study and store
the information viably. It is sophisticated technology where number of
servers converged on a single cloud platform for offering information
sharing between one another which could be retrieved anytime from all over
the world (Jenson, 2017). Apart from converge the servers, it analyzes the
data gathered from the sensors and stores it for future purpose. This is barely
a start of unleashing the real capability of the system. Cloud could have
enormous uses because of interfacing with smart devices as these devices are
using millions of sensors which could leads to substantial improvement in
IoT.
 Analytics: Analytics is the methodology for changing analog information
into service insights gathered from billions of smart devices and sensors
which can be transitioned and used later. Analytic results from smart devices
are certain for the management and development of IoT framework. Real-
time smart analytics is a significant advantage of IoT system as it helps to
figure out anomalies in the gathered information and allows reacting quickly
before an undesired situation occurs.

 Application/User interface: It is essentially vital as far as the user is
concerned, because it acts as an interface that gives required modules that
can be used to monitor and control different viewpoints of the IoT
framework (Sicari, Rizzardi, Miorandi, Cappiello, & Coen-Porisini, 2016).
Applications permit user to see and inspect the status of the system and to
predict upcoming prospects.
Figure 2: Components of IoT (RF Page, 2018)
IoT Architecture layers and its relationship with the IoT components:
IoT architecture layer and the components of IoT are interrelated with one another.
By clearly observing figure 3 it could be seen that how each component is related
with each layer of IoT architecture.