Blockchain for the IoT: Privacy-Preserving Protection of Sensor Data

Authors: Mathieu Chanson, Andreas Bogner, Dominik Bilgeri, Elgar Fleisch, Felix Wortmann
Venue: Journal of the Association for Information Systems 20(9), 2019, 1271-1307
Link: https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00567 (opens in a new tab)

Summary

The paper proposes a design theory (requirements, principles, and features) for a blockchain-based sensor data protection system that certifies IoT data, ensuring tamper-resistant, privacy-preserving, scalable and efficient data gathering, processing and exchange, demonstrated with the CertifiCar instantiation.

Artifact

A blockchain-based sensor data protection system (SDPS) leveraging data certification; instantiated as CertifiCar (mileage fraud prevention).

Methodology

Design science research; three iterative build cycles; ex post evaluation across mileage, pharma supply chain and energy microgrid use cases.

Design features

Concrete, technology-specific realizations of the design principles in this artifact:

• Design feature DF1: Data collection unit - The sensing/data-collection component that collects the raw sensor data at the source.
• Design feature DF2: Validation sensor - An independent validation sensor that provides additional data (e.g., GPS alongside odometer values) for cross-validation.
• Design feature DF3: Near-sensor preprocessing and hashing - Preprocess the data and record the blockchain transaction as a hash as close as possible to the sensing unit, preventing manipulation from that point on.
• Design feature DF4: Storage service - A storage service that writes encrypted raw data into raw-data storage and propagates the signed hash transaction to the blockchain and verification storage.
• Design feature DF5: Raw data storage - Encrypted raw sensor data is stored in a (centralized) mass-storage or cloud system.
• Design feature DF6: Verification storage system - An independent verification storage system holds the hashes used to verify data integrity on the blockchain.
• Design feature DF7: Access management service - An access-management service ensures the encrypted raw data can be accessed only when the data owner grants access.
• Design feature DF8: Certification and verification mechanism - A certification mechanism performs cross-validation and verifies integrity (e.g., that mileage never decreased over time).
• Design feature DF9: Data retrieval service - A data-retrieval service delivers decrypted raw data to authorized consumers after access is granted.

Citations

[1] Mathieu Chanson, Andreas Bogner, Dominik Bilgeri, Elgar Fleisch, Felix Wortmann. Blockchain for the IoT: Privacy-Preserving Protection of Sensor Data. Journal of the Association for Information Systems 20(9), 2019, 1271-1307. https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00567 (opens in a new tab) [2] Source document: Blockchain for the IoT.pdf