Trust provision in the Internet of Things using transversal blockchain networks

Resumen

The Internet-of-Things (IoT) paradigm faces new and genuine challenges and problems associated, mainly, with the ubiquitous access to the Internet, the huge number of devices involved and the heterogeneity of the components making up this new global network. In this context, protecting these systems against cyberattacks and cybercrimes has turn into a basic issue. In relation to this topic, most proposed solutions in the literature are focused on security; however other aspects have to be considered (such as privacy or trust). Therefore, in this paper we define a theoretical framework for trust in IoT scenarios, including a mathematical formalization and a discussion about the requirements which should fulfill a solution for trust provision. An analysis of these requirements shows that blockchain technology meets them perfectly, so a first trust provision system based on blockchain networks is also provided. An experimental validation is also proposed and performed in order to evaluate the described solution.