Distributed access control solution for the IoT based on multi-endorsed attributes and smart contracts

Abstract

The ever-growing world of the Internet of Things (IoT) is yet to agree on an effective and practical access control solution. To overcome challenges such as limited resources, or unreliable connectivity, a number of schemes offload heavy computations onto a central entity, thus creating a single point of failure. Our contribution consists in the construction of a distributed attribute-based access control mechanism, relying on the blockchain technology to dynamically manage multi-endorsed attributes and trust anchors. The originality of our proposal is multifold. First, it enables the integration of multiple security domains into a single resilient access control system. Second, its focus on attributes offers flexibility, expressiveness, and user-centricity, accommodating the dynamic addition of subjects. Third, our attribute endorsement is open, scalable, and flexible, enabling multiple administrators without sacrificing ease of management. Finally, the final access control decision is taken by the device and only requires local connection to its gateway.