VelogCPS: A safe blockchain network for cyber–physical systems leveraging block verifiers

Abstract

Non-functional requirements related to safety, security, and timeliness have made cyber–physical systems (CPS) initially reluctant to their integration with blockchain technology. Despite the multiple advantages of blockchain like improved data security and traceability, the main reasons that have slowed down its adoption in CPS still remain. Examples of these are the inherent overhead of accessing the distributed ledger and the security incidents that a number of blockchain networks have suffered since its inception. This paper presents VelogCPS, a novel middleware that guarantees that logic and data managed by blockchain networks of cyber–physical systems is verified and generated by a legitimate source. Thus, VelogCPS avoids a kind of security incidents that impact the authenticity and integrity of the logic and data managed in blockchain networks. By authenticity we refer to provenance authenticity of the involved smart contracts, i.e., the perfect matching between the source-code and a corresponding advertised smart-contract logic. This middleware ensures that the entities that participate to a CPS use solely authentic logic. For this, our approach leverages block verification services and enforces them through the operation workflow. As a result, the middleware guarantees that the CPS participants use and share authentic logic. Our approach is validated by providing an implementation on a real blockchain network, employing actual smart contract verifier logic, and analysing the temporal behavior of the overall system operations; this ensures its utility for CPS and IoT.