A security-and quality-aware system architecture for Internet of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) is characterized, at the system level, by high diversity with respect to enabling technologies and supported services. IoT also assumes to deal with a huge amount of heterogeneous data generated by devices, transmitted by the underpinning infrastructure and processed to support value-added services. In order to provide users with valuable output, the IoT architecture should guarantee the suitability and trustworthiness of the processed data. This is a major requirement of such systems in order to guarantee robustness and reliability at the service level. In this paper, we introduce a novel IoT architecture able to support security, privacy and data quality guarantees, thereby effectively boosting the diffusion of IoT services

The future of Cybersecurity in Italy: Strategic focus area

This volume has been created as a continuation of the previous one, with the aim of outlining a set of focus areas and actions that the Italian Nation research community considers essential. The book touches many aspects of cyber security, ranging from the definition of the infrastructure and controls needed to organize cyberdefence to the actions and technologies to be developed to be better protected, from the identification of the main technologies to be defended to the proposal of a set of horizontal actions for training, awareness raising, and risk management

A Survey on Layer-Wise Security Attacks in IoT: Attacks, Countermeasures, and Open-Issues

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Security is a mandatory issue in any network, where sensitive data are transferred safely in the required direction. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are the networks formed in hostile areas for different applications. Whatever the application, the WSNs must gather a large amount of sensitive data and send them to an authorized body, generally a sink. WSN has integrated with Internet-of-Things (IoT) via internet access in sensor nodes along with internet-connected devices. The data gathered with IoT are enormous, which are eventually collected by WSN over the Internet. Due to several resource constraints, it is challenging to design a secure sensor network, and for a secure IoT it is essential to have a secure WSN. Most of the traditional security techniques do not work well for WSN. The merger of IoT and WSN has opened new challenges in designing a secure network. In this paper, we have discussed the challenges of creating a secure WSN. This research reviews the layer-wise security protocols for WSN and IoT in the literature. There are several issues and challenges for a secure WSN and IoT, which we have addressed in this research. This research pinpoints the new research opportunities in the security issues of both WSN and IoT. This survey climaxes in abstruse psychoanalysis of the network layer attacks. Finally, various attacks on the network using Cooja, a simulator of ContikiOS, are simulated.Peer reviewe

Using Distributed Ledger Technologies in VANETs to Achieve Trusted Intelligent Transportation Systems

With the recent advancements in the networking realm of computers as well as achieving real-time communication between devices over the Internet, IoT (Internet of Things) devices have been on the rise; collecting, sharing, and exchanging data with other connected devices or databases online, enabling all sorts of communications and operations without the need for human intervention, oversight, or control. This has caused more computer-based systems to get integrated into the physical world, inching us closer towards developing smart cities. The automotive industry, alongside other software developers and technology companies have been at the forefront of this advancement towards achieving smart cities. Currently, transportation networks need to be revamped to utilize the massive amounts of data being generated by the public’s vehicle’s on-board devices, as well as other integrated sensors on public transit systems, local roads, and highways. This will create an interconnected ecosystem that can be leveraged to improve traffic efficiency and reliability. Currently, Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) communications, all play a major role in supporting road safety, traffic efficiency, and energy savings. To protect these devices and the networks they form from being targets of cyber-related attacks, this paper presents ideas on how to leverage distributed ledger technologies (DLT) to establish secure communication between vehicles that is decentralized, trustless, and immutable. Incorporating IOTA’s protocols, as well as utilizing Ethereum’s smart contracts functionality and application concepts with VANETs, all interoperating with Hyperledger’s Fabric framework, several novel ideas can be implemented to improve traffic safety and efficiency. Such a modular design also opens up the possibility to further investigate use cases of the blockchain and distributed ledger technologies in creating a decentralized intelligent transportation system (ITS)

Mobile Malware and Smart Device Security: Trends, Challenges and Solutions

This work is part of the research to study trends and challenges of cyber security to smart devices in smart homes. We have seen the development and demand for seamless interconnectivity of smart devices to provide various functionality and abilities to users. While these devices provide more features and functionality, they also introduce new risks and threats. Subsequently, current cyber security issues related to smart devices are discussed and analyzed. The paper begins with related background and motivation. We identified mobile malware as one of the main issue in the smart devices' security. In the near future, mobile smart device users can expect to see a striking increase in malware and notable advancements in malware-related attacks, particularly on the Android platform as the user base has grown exponentially. We discuss and analyzed mobile malware in details and identified challenges and future trends in this area. Then we propose and discuss an integrated security solution for cyber security in smart devices to tackle the issue

Blockchain’s roles in strengthening cybersecurity and protecting privacy

This paper evaluates blockchain's roles in strengthening cybersecurity and protecting privacy. Since most of the data is currently stored in cloud data centers, it also compares how blockchain performs vis-vis the cloud in various aspects of security and privacy. Key underlying mechanisms related to the blockchain's impacts on the Internet of Things (IoT) security are also covered. From the security and privacy considerations, it highlights how blockchain-based solutions could possibly be, in many aspects, superior to the current IoT ecosystem, which mainly relies on centralized cloud servers through service providers. Using practical applications and real-world examples, the paper argues that blockchain's decentralized feature is likely to result in a low susceptibility to manipulation and forgery by malicious participants. Special consideration is also given to how blockchain-based identity and access management systems can address some of the key challenges associated with IoT security. The paper provides a detailed analysis and description of blockchain's roles in tracking the sources of insecurity in supply chains related to IoT devices. The paper also delves into how blockchain can make it possible to contain an IoT security breach in a targeted way after it is discovered. It discusses and evaluates initiatives of organizations, inter-organizational networks and industries on this front. A number of policy implications are discussed. First, in order to strengthen IoT, regulators can make it obligatory for firms to deploy blockchain in supply chain, especially in systems that are mission critical, and have substantial national security and economic benefits. Second, public policy efforts directed at protecting privacy using blockchain should focus on providing training to key stakeholders and increasing investment in this technology. Third, one way to enrich the blockchain ecosystem would be to turn attention to public–private partnerships. Finally, national governments should provide legal clarity and more information for parties to engage in smart contracts that are enforceable

Blockchain in a Business Model: Exploring Benefits and Risks

Although a blockchain has the potential to redefine value creation, delivery and capture activities in organisations, research on business model innovation from a blockchain perspective is still developing. This paper provides an analysis of literature on the use of blockchain in business model innovation. This analysis reconciles the technological and management perspectives to explore blockchain technology characteristics in relation to benefits and risks for business models. The findings contribute to the emerging stream of research discussing the business implications of innovative technologies, describing how blockchain networks can have an impact on business processes