Enhancing MQTT Fault Tolerance and Resilience Against Broker Failures and DoS Attacks with Decentralized Blockchain Architecture
Elisée Toé, Fehmi Jaafar · 2024
The MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) protocol has become the standard for IoT (Internet of Things) communication due to its lightweight nature and efficiency. However, its centralized architecture, with a single broker managing message flow, introduces vulnerabilities to failures and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. This paper proposes a novel decentralized architecture for MQTT systems that leverages blockchain technology and smartcontracts to enhance resilience against broker failures and DoS attacks. Our approach utilizes a three-layer architecture comprising clients, cluster brokers, and a blockchain-based system to securely manage broker transitions and ensure continuous service. Key contributions of this work include a decentralized failover mechanism, secure recording and access control via blockchain, and a robust algorithm for improving system resilience. The use of blockchain and smartcontracts provides a tamper-proof and transparent method for managing broker transitions and access control, enhancing the security and trustworthiness of the system. These findings suggest that integrating blockchain technology with MQTT can mitigate some of the inherent vulnerabilities of traditional centralized architectures, paving the way for more resilient IoT communications.