Blockchain and the Internet of Things are two of the most talked-about and leading technologies. They are influencing businesses around the world. Domains like E-commerce, Retail, Manufacturing, and Healthcare. They are continuously working and identifying new developments under these technologies.
Data and transaction security is a major concern for any business and puts up as one of the most serious questions in the IoT sector. In this article, We will discuss the use of Blockchain Technologies to secure the Internet of Things in a critical way.
We bring you a brief introduction to Blockchain, followed by an explanation. How blockchain can be used to improve the security of IoT.
Blockchain is a distributed database technology that is very hard to tamper with ledger records. It allows storage of all the transactions in permanent databases and the distribution of each record across several participant nodes.
The security comes from the use of strong public-key cryptography, strong cryptographic hash, and complete decentralization.
The technology’s main concept is blocked. They are a set of minor transactions that have occurred within the system. Each new block stores the link of the previous transaction by including an SHA-256 hash of the previous transaction. As a result, it creates a ‘chain‘ of blocks and hence the name. Blocks are computationally challenging to create, requiring several specialized processors and a considerable amount of time.
Since it is difficult to generate a block and tampering one block requires tampering with the previous block. Then following the chain to fully change. Blockchain technology is called tamper-resistant.
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How it works:
As a result, the main advantages of blockchain technologies can be summarized as follows:
- It’s tamper-resistant to a high degree.
- Owing to the absence of a central point of failure and the fact that it is a peer-to-peer network, it is incredibly scalable.
- It can be used as an eternal record-keeping method by all stakeholders.
How the Internet of Things (IoT) will benefit from blockchain technologies.
As the Internet of Things (IoT) becomes more popular, the technology’s key challenges are quickly becoming clear. Security is one of the most critical aspects of IoT deployment.
- It is a huge challenge to locate, authenticate, and protect devices as the number of devices in the infrastructure increases exponentially.
- A centralized security infrastructure would introduce a single point of failure and make DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks even easier.
- In an industrial environment with widely distributed edge nodes, centralized infrastructure would be difficult to implement.
Due to the above key benefits, Blockchain Technology appears to be a viable solution.
The three benefits of blockchain for IoT, according to IBM: building trust, cost reduction, and the acceleration of transactions.
Cases where blockchain we can use:
It can be used to build a safe mesh network. That allows IoT devices to communicate safely and efficiently. While avoiding the risks of device spoofing and impersonation.
Every IoT node will be registered on the blockchain. And each one will be assigned a blockchain id that will uniquely identify it in the universal namespace. For a device to connect to another device. One will use the blockchain id as a URL and will use its local blockchain wallet to raise an identity request. The wallet will send a digitally signed request to the target device. Which will verify the signature using blockchain services and the sender’s public key. M2M authentication will be performed without the use of a centralized arbitrator or utility.
For a resource-constrained system, proxies may be used to store the wallet. There will be some aggregation as a result of this but it will be limited. The above possible solution can be used for several IoT services. Intelligent healthcare-related vehicles, transportation, and other examples will be used.
There are some cases where blockchain isn’t the right option:
One of the most important advantages of blockchain technology is that it can be used as a digital recording device. It facilitates the secure storage of immutable documents. It used good encryption and duplication to achieve this. For example, In supply change management, a consignment would go through a sequence of operations, and the status of each piece of an object can be tracked using RFID and registered using blockchain technology.
However, there is a cost associated with this. Latency is introduced by duplication. Getting a block will take a long time. Latency is introduced by strong cryptographic methods. In a near-real-time or real-time operation scenario, the latencies are unacceptable. As a result, blockchain isn’t ideal for recording raw data at the source.
With a little adjustment, blockchain may be applied to near-real-time situations. The implementation of aggregation cache nodes near the sources will serve as a broker between the source and blockchain services. However, this is a deviation from blockchain’s core power which can only be used with close consideration.
Blockchain may be suited to near-real-time scenarios with some minor adjustments. The addition of an aggregation caching node near the sources will act as a broker between the source and blockchain services. This, though, is a departure from blockchain’s core power and can only be used with caution.
Conclusion:
The Internet of Things and blockchain has the ability to fully transform current vital processes and enhance business process management. If the technology is used wisely, it can make our everyday lives simpler when put together.
In addition, connecting IoT devices through a blockchain network eliminates the need for a central authority. This allows every linked device to access a copy of the ever-growing data chain. A transaction is processed in a block after it has been authenticated.
Then sent to the network’s other nodes. Both of these contribute to the increased reliability of our IoT services, preventing unwanted entry and reducing the risk of security breaches.
To understand how IoT Blockchain can help your business. If you are looking for an IoT application development company and Blockchain Development Company visit our pages. If you have any concerns or would like more details about it. You can also reach out to us via email at info@hashstudioz.com and contact us.
Manvendra Kunwar 
Surbhi Pandey