Developing an IoT Identity Management System Using Blockchain

Abstract

Identity (ID) management systems have evolved based on traditional data modelling and authentication protocols that are facing security, privacy, and trust challenges with the growth of Internet of Things (IoT). Research surveys reveal that blockchain technology offers special features of self-sovereign identity and cryptography that can be leveraged to address the issues of security breach and privacy leaks prevalent in existing ID management systems. Although research studies are recently exploring the suitability of blockchain based support to existing infrastructure, there is a lack of focus on IoT ecosystem in the secured ID management with data provenance of digital assets in businesses. In this paper, we propose a blockchain based ID management system for computing assets in an IoT ecosystem comprising of devices, software, users, and data operations. We design and develop a proof-of-concept prototype using a federated and distributed blockchain platform with smart contracts to support highly trusted data storage and secure authentication of IoT resources and operations within a business case scenario.