SEBS: A Secure Element and Blockchain Stratagem for Securing IoT
Varun M. Deshpande, Taniya Das, Hakim Badis, Laurent George · 2019
In the context of the Internet of Things (IoT), the issue of holistic data security is complex as data has to be secured at 3 critical points i.e., 1. Point of generation (IoT sensors), 2. Point of storage, 3. Point of usage (IoT actuators). Point 2 can be adequately addressed by Blockchain that offers remarkable immutability by storing data securely and transparently in a distributed setting, making it tamper-proof while in storage. However, blockchain alone cannot root out all the data security impediments in an IoT network as Points 1 and 3 still needs to be resolved. In this paper, we propose a novel Secure Element and Blockchain based stratagem called SEBS to effectively secure all 3 Points at once, thereby realizing light, holistic, efficient IoT data security in true sense. Further, we elaborate on SEBS implementation in a generic IoT network scenario and show how it improves the performance of critical security operations by as much as 31 times. Next, we address a niche problem by proposing a novel SEOVA or SE based offline verification algorithm to verify if the data received through intermediary really belongs to the blockchain.