How to Secure the Internet of Things (IoT) with Blockchain Part 2

In part 1 of our article, we have gone through the problems with securing IoT as well as the centralized and decentralized approach to solving it. Now it’s time to move to the real deal and talk about blockchain.

The Blockchain and IoT

Blockchain technology may be the missing link to solving scalability, privacy, and reliability issues in the Internet of Things. It can be used for keeping track of billions of connected devices, enable the processing of transactions and simplify the coordination between devices — all things that would bring significant savings to IoT industry manufacturers. This decentralized approach would also prevent single points of failure, helping form a more resilient ecosystem for devices to run on. The cryptographic algorithms used by the blockchain would help keep the data private.

The decentralized, self-governing, and trustless capabilities of the blockchain make it a great candidate for IoT security solutions. It is not a surprise that enterprise IoT companies are one of the earliest adopters of the blockchain.

In an IoT network, the blockchain helps keep an immutable record of the history of smart devices. This feature empowers the autonomous functioning of smart devices without the need for centralized authority. As a result, the technology opens the door to a range of IoT scenarios that were remarkably difficult, or even impossible to execute without it.

By leveraging the blockchain technology, IoT networks can provide secure messaging between devices. In this model, the blockchain would treat messaging between devices in a similar fashion to the transactions in cryptocurrency networks. The devices could then use smart contracts to conclude agreements between two parties.

Use Cases

One use case would be in agriculture. For example, we could send a signal over the internet communicating directly with the irrigation system to increase or reduce the flow of water depending on the conditions detected by the sensors on the crops and in the soil. In a similar fashion, smart devices can adjust the functions of the oil platform based on weather conditions.

Besides these applications, blockchain could enable smart devices to place orders for repairing some of their parts without the need for human intervention. Also, smart vehicles could provide a complete report of the parts that need to be replaced each week.

Conclusion

Still, one of the most important capabilities remains the ability to maintain a secure, decentralized ledger of all transactions happening in the network. The future of IoT depends on the ability to make it secure, and blockchain can help make it happen.

Follow us for more interesting articles and join the discussion in our Telegram group.