Holistic Blockchain Approach to Foster Trust, Privacy and Security in IoT Based Ambient Assisted Living Environment

The application of blockchains techniques in the Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining much attention with new solutions proposed in diverse areas of the IoT. Conventionally IoT systems are designed to follow the centralised paradigm where security and privacy control is vested on a 'trusted' third-party. This design leaves the user at the mercy of a sovereign broker and in addition, susceptible to several attacks. The implicit trust and the inferred reliability of centralised systems have been challenged recently following several privacy violations and personal data breaches. Consequently, there is a call for more secure decentralised systems that allows for finer control of user privacy while providing secure communication. Propitiously, the blockchain holds much promise and may provide the necessary framework for the design of a secure IoT system that guarantees fine-grained user privacy in a trustless manner. In this paper, we propose a holistic blockchain-based decentralised model for Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) environment. The nodes in our proposed model utilize smart contracts to define interaction rules while working collaboratively to contribute storage and computing resources. Based on the blockchain technique, our proposed model promotes trustless interaction and enhanced user's privacy through the blockchain-Interplanetary File System (IPFS) alliance. The proposed model also addresses the shortfall of storage constraints exhibited in many IoT systems

Towards a Secure Smart Grid Storage Communications Gateway

This research in progress paper describes the role of cyber security measures undertaken in an ICT system for integrating electric storage technologies into the grid. To do so, it defines security requirements for a communications gateway and gives detailed information and hands-on configuration advice on node and communication line security, data storage, coping with backend M2M communications protocols and examines privacy issues. The presented research paves the road for developing secure smart energy communications devices that allow enhancing energy efficiency. The described measures are implemented in an actual gateway device within the HORIZON 2020 project STORY, which aims at developing new ways to use storage and demonstrating these on six different demonstration sites.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure