Securing Environmental IoT Data Using Masked Authentication Messaging Protocol in a DAG-Based Blockchain: IOTA Tangle

The demand for the digital monitoring of environmental ecosystems is high and growing rapidly as a means of protecting the public and managing the environment. However, before data, algorithms, and models can be mobilized at scale, there are considerable concerns associated with privacy and security...

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Main Authors: Pranav Gangwani, Alexander Perez-Pons, Tushar Bhardwaj, Himanshu Upadhyay, Santosh Joshi, Leonel Lagos
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-12-01
Series:Future Internet
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/13/12/312
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author Pranav Gangwani
Alexander Perez-Pons
Tushar Bhardwaj
Himanshu Upadhyay
Santosh Joshi
Leonel Lagos
author_facet Pranav Gangwani
Alexander Perez-Pons
Tushar Bhardwaj
Himanshu Upadhyay
Santosh Joshi
Leonel Lagos
author_sort Pranav Gangwani
collection DOAJ
description The demand for the digital monitoring of environmental ecosystems is high and growing rapidly as a means of protecting the public and managing the environment. However, before data, algorithms, and models can be mobilized at scale, there are considerable concerns associated with privacy and security that can negatively affect the adoption of technology within this domain. In this paper, we propose the advancement of electronic environmental monitoring through the capability provided by the blockchain. The blockchain’s use of a distributed ledger as its underlying infrastructure is an attractive approach to counter these privacy and security issues, although its performance and ability to manage sensor data must be assessed. We focus on a new distributed ledger technology for the IoT, called IOTA, that is based on a directed acyclic graph. IOTA overcomes the current limitations of the blockchain and offers a data communication protocol called masked authenticated messaging for secure data sharing among Internet of Things (IoT) devices. We show how the application layer employing the data communication protocol, MAM, can support the secure transmission, storage, and retrieval of encrypted environmental sensor data by using an immutable distributed ledger such as that shown in IOTA. Finally, we evaluate, compare, and analyze the performance of the MAM protocol against a non-protocol approach.
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spelling doaj.art-54f179f8ad944e9491051ddbd20b3e5f2023-11-23T08:25:10ZengMDPI AGFuture Internet1999-59032021-12-01131231210.3390/fi13120312Securing Environmental IoT Data Using Masked Authentication Messaging Protocol in a DAG-Based Blockchain: IOTA TanglePranav Gangwani0Alexander Perez-Pons1Tushar Bhardwaj2Himanshu Upadhyay3Santosh Joshi4Leonel Lagos5Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USADepartment of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USAApplied Research Center, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USAApplied Research Center, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USAApplied Research Center, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USAApplied Research Center, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USAThe demand for the digital monitoring of environmental ecosystems is high and growing rapidly as a means of protecting the public and managing the environment. However, before data, algorithms, and models can be mobilized at scale, there are considerable concerns associated with privacy and security that can negatively affect the adoption of technology within this domain. In this paper, we propose the advancement of electronic environmental monitoring through the capability provided by the blockchain. The blockchain’s use of a distributed ledger as its underlying infrastructure is an attractive approach to counter these privacy and security issues, although its performance and ability to manage sensor data must be assessed. We focus on a new distributed ledger technology for the IoT, called IOTA, that is based on a directed acyclic graph. IOTA overcomes the current limitations of the blockchain and offers a data communication protocol called masked authenticated messaging for secure data sharing among Internet of Things (IoT) devices. We show how the application layer employing the data communication protocol, MAM, can support the secure transmission, storage, and retrieval of encrypted environmental sensor data by using an immutable distributed ledger such as that shown in IOTA. Finally, we evaluate, compare, and analyze the performance of the MAM protocol against a non-protocol approach.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/13/12/312IoTsecurityprivacyenvironmentIOTATangle
spellingShingle Pranav Gangwani
Alexander Perez-Pons
Tushar Bhardwaj
Himanshu Upadhyay
Santosh Joshi
Leonel Lagos
Securing Environmental IoT Data Using Masked Authentication Messaging Protocol in a DAG-Based Blockchain: IOTA Tangle
Future Internet
IoT
security
privacy
environment
IOTA
Tangle
title Securing Environmental IoT Data Using Masked Authentication Messaging Protocol in a DAG-Based Blockchain: IOTA Tangle
title_full Securing Environmental IoT Data Using Masked Authentication Messaging Protocol in a DAG-Based Blockchain: IOTA Tangle
title_fullStr Securing Environmental IoT Data Using Masked Authentication Messaging Protocol in a DAG-Based Blockchain: IOTA Tangle
title_full_unstemmed Securing Environmental IoT Data Using Masked Authentication Messaging Protocol in a DAG-Based Blockchain: IOTA Tangle
title_short Securing Environmental IoT Data Using Masked Authentication Messaging Protocol in a DAG-Based Blockchain: IOTA Tangle
title_sort securing environmental iot data using masked authentication messaging protocol in a dag based blockchain iota tangle
topic IoT
security
privacy
environment
IOTA
Tangle
url https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/13/12/312
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