IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - September/October 2021 - 86

AI-Driven Security Solutions for the Internet of Everything
SYSTEM MODELS
In this section, we provide the network and
threat models that are associated with the
designed generalized blockchain-based access
control framework in an IoE environment.
Network Model
A network model suggested for this blockFigure
3. Evolution of blockchain in IoE context.
system. Blockchain provides data transparency,
immutability, and cryptographic protection.
In an IoE environment context, various applications
are interconnected to each other and
produce a large amount of data, and therefore,
the blockchain technology is appropriate to
secure the data. Since there are various potential
applications of the IoE, several variations of
blockchain are notable, which lie on a consensus
algorithm. The consensus mechanism is defined
as a process by which a distributed blockchain
ledger is updated in an order that every peer
node has an identical copy. Many consensus
algorithms, such as proof of work, proof of stake,
practical byzantine fault tolerance (PBFT), and
ripple protocol consensus algorithm (RPCA),
have been introduced and applied. Blockchain
can be of three types depending upon access
mechanism defined:
(1) private blockchain that operates among a set
of known, identified, and often vetted participants
(for example, the Hyperledger Fabric);
(2) public blockchain, where the participants are
anonymous or not trusted (for instance,
Bitcoin);
(3) consortium or hybrid blockchain, in which a
predefined group of nodes on the blockchain
network exists and it is not assigned to a single
party.
Moreover, it supports security issues that are
inherited from the permissionless blockchain.
Nowadays, the blockchain-based businesses are
growing rapidly and it is expected to reach the
worth of $10 billion by 2022 and the value may
increase to $3.1 trillion by 2030. An evolution of
blockchain in IoE context is shown in Figure 3.
86
chain-based access control framework can detect
and mitigate malicious attacks in the IoE environment
(see in Figure 1). The data (information) are
securely collected from various heterogeneous
IoT smart devices deployed in different IoE applications
and are stored into the blockchain or data
storage. In IoE applications (for instance, smart
home), various smart devices are deployed to
sense and send the real-time data to their neighbors,
the users, and nearby fog servers. Prior to
exchange of data, the smart devices require to
establish the secret (session) keys with their
respective entities using an access control protocol.
Next, the information is shared securely
among multiple smart devices, the users, and fog
servers using the established secret keys. The fog
server ðFSÞ stores the data in the form of transactions,
constructs the blocks with the generated
transactions, and then securely sends the blocks
to the associated cloud server ðCSÞ by using the
public key of the CS. The constructed blocks can
be of various types depending on applications
(private, public, or consortium). Then, CS adds
the mined block into the blockchain by applying
some well-known consensus algorithm (for
instance, PBFT and RPCA).8 Auser can also access
the real-time data from designated smart devices
in the IoE applications after the establishment of
the session keys using a user access control protocol.9
In addition, the data available in the blocks in
the blockchain can be further trained by the AIbased
big data analytics mechanisms for future
accurate predictions.
Threat Model
The communication takes place over the public
channel (insure channel) in IoE environment
(for instance, a user can access real-time data
from some IoT smart devices or data storage/
server directly; IoT smart devices can send the
sensed information to their neighbor nodes and
nearby fog servers) as shown in Figure 1.
IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine
IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - September/October 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - September/October 2021
