Investigating smart home security : is blockchain the answer?

Smart Home automation is increasingly gaining popularity among current applications of Internet of Things (IoT) due to the convenience and facilities it provides to the home owners. Sensors are employed within the home appliances via wireless connectivity to be accessible remotely by home owners to operate these devices. With the exponential increase of smart home IoT devices in the marketplace such as door locks, light bulbs, power switches etc, numerous security concerns are arising due to limited storage and processing power of such devices, making these devices vulnerable to several attacks. Due to this reason, security implementations in the deployment of these devices has gained popularity among researchers as a critical research area. Moreover, the adoption of traditional security schemes has failed to address the unique security concerns associated with these devices. Blockchain, a decentralised database based on cryptographic techniques, is gaining enormous attention to assure security of IoT systems. The blockchain framework within an IoT system is a fascinating substitute to the traditional centralised models, which has some significant concerns in fulfilling the demand of smart homes security. In this article, we aim to examine the security of smart homes by instigating the adoption of blockchain and exploring some of the currently proposed smart home architectures using blockchain technology. To present our findings, we describe a simple secure smart home framework based on a refined version of blockchain called Consortium blockchain. We highlight the limitations and opportunities of adopting such an architecture. We further evaluate our model and conclude with the results by designing an experimental testbed using a few household IoT devices commonly available in the marketplace. © 2013 IEEE

Exploring IoT in Smart Cities: Practices, Challenges and Way Forward

The rise of Internet of things (IoT) technology has revolutionized urban living, offering immense potential for smart cities in which smart home, smart infrastructure, and smart industry are essential aspects that contribute to the development of intelligent urban ecosystems. The integration of smart home technology raises concerns regarding data privacy and security, while smart infrastructure implementation demands robust networking and interoperability solutions. Simultaneously, deploying IoT in industrial settings faces challenges related to scalability, standardization, and data management. This research paper offers a systematic literature review of published research in the field of IoT in smart cities including 55 relevant primary studies that have been published in reputable journals and conferences. This extensive literature review explores and evaluates various aspects of smart home, smart infrastructure, and smart industry and the challenges like security and privacy, smart sensors, interoperability and standardization. We provide a unified perspective, as we seek to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of smart cities while overcoming security concerns. It then explores their potential for collective integration and impact on the development of smart cities. Furthermore, this study addresses the challenges associated with each component individually and explores their combined impact on enhancing urban efficiency and sustainability. Through a comprehensive analysis of security concerns, this research successfully integrates these IoT components in a unified approach, presenting a holistic framework for building smart cities of the future. Integrating smart home, smart infrastructure, and smart industry, this research highlights the significance of an integrated approach in developing smart cities

Security Attacks and Countermeasures in Smart Homes

The Internet of Things (IoT) application is visible in all aspects of humans’ day-to-day affairs. The demand for IoT is growing at an unprecedented rate, from wearable wristwatches to autopilot cars. The smart home has also seen significant advancements to improve the quality of lifestyle. However, the security and privacy of IoT devices have become primary concerns as data is shared among intelligent devices and over the internet in a smart home network. There are several attacks - node capturing attack, sniffing attack, malware attack, boot phase attack, etc., which are conducted by adversaries to breach the security of smart homes. The security breach has a negative impact on the tenants\u27 privacy and prevents the availability of smart home services. This article presents smart homes\u27 most common security attacks and mitigation techniques

Usable Privacy Mechanisms in Home Security Camera Systems

IoT is the interconnection of People and things. When our home is connected to IoT devices it is referred to as smart home. The idea behind smart home is to make life easier such that there is little human intervention. The IoT devices in our smart home exchange data for storage and processing. This exchange of data leads to users concerns on data security and privacy. In this work, we implemented home security camera systems in such a way that the data is encrypted first before being sent to the cloud in a very simplified and almost automatic encryption process. This implementation was done putting in mind usability. A questionnaire was used to gather results on users’ perception about the system. The user study conducted yielded positive result

IoT and Smart Home Data Breach Risks from the Perspective of Data Protection and Information Security Law

Background: IoT and smart devices have become extremely popular in the last few years. With their capabilities to collect data, it is reasonable to have concerns about the protection of users’ personal information and privacy in general. Objectives: Comparing existing regulations on data protection and information security rules with the new capabilities provided by IoT and smart devices. Methods/approach: This paper will analyse information on data collected by IoT and smart devices and the corresponding legal framework to explore whether the legal framework also covers these new devices and their functionalities. Results: Various IoT and smart devices pose a high risk to an individual\u27s privacy. The General Data Protection Regulation, although a relatively recent law, may not adequately regulate all instances and uses of this technology. Also, due to inadequate technological protection, abuse of such devices by unauthorized persons is possible and even likely. Conclusions: The number of IoT and smart devices is rapidly increasing. The number of IoT and smart home device security incidents is on the rise. The regulatory framework to ensure data controller and processor compliance needs to be improved in order to create a safer environment for new innovative IoT services and products without jeopardizing the rights and freedoms of data subjects. Also, it is important to increase awareness of homeowners about potential security threats when using IoT and smart devices and services