Enhancing Cybersecurity Defense of IoT Ecosystem Using Blockchain

Abstract

The expansion of IoT devices over the past years has led to the development of smart ecosystems susceptible to cyberattacks. These ecosystems include smart industries and smart home security systems. However, when these devices are widely deployed and generate significant amounts of data, this data must be securely stored on the cloud to prevent it from being compromised by serious cyber attacks. Although traditional security methods partly meet the need to protect the privacy and security of smart IoT ecosystems, their centralized structure and limited computing power make them inefficient. However, recent advancements in blockchain technology have made it possible to employ decentralized architectures to enhance the cybersecurity defense mechanisms of IoT ecosystems. The utilization of blockchain-enabled methodologies is considered one of the most auspicious advancements in the domain of the IoT. These techniques offer a secure and decentralized mode of communication among internet-connected devices. This study presents a blockchain-based novel framework to enhance the cybersecurity measures of smart IoT ecosystem installations. The proposed framework prioritizes the immutability of devices and users present in such environments and incorporates smart contracts to ensure their overall security. Furthermore, the system includes a module for regularly verifying the firmware of connected devices by comparing them to the valid firmware hashes present in the smart contract's storage. The proposed approach has also come up with the idea of blacklisting the malicious IP addresses trying to connect with IoT ecosystems network.