Adaptive Trust Architecture for Secure IoT Communication in 6G

Abstract

This letter presents an adaptive trust architecture that enables secure, low-latency communication in 6G-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) networks, centering around a novel Adaptive Zero Trust Manager (AZTM) deployed at the network edge. Integrating zero trust principles with a lightweight, consensus-free blockchain, AZTM provides real-time authentication and behavior-based trust evaluation while maintaining energy efficiency. It supports secure device communication through dynamic key exchange, eliminating reliance on pre-shared secrets or centralized trust authorities. The system is validated through implementation on resource-constrained IoT devices, demonstrating low-latency performance, resilience to common attacks, and suitability for mission-critical 6G applications such as healthcare, industrial automation, and intelligent transport.