Blockchains and Smart Contracts for the Internet of Things
TL;DR: The conclusion is that the blockchain-IoT combination is powerful and can cause significant transformations across several industries, paving the way for new business models and novel, distributed applications.
Abstract: Motivated by the recent explosion of interest around blockchains, we examine whether they make a good fit for the Internet of Things (IoT) sector. Blockchains allow us to have a distributed peer-to-peer network where non-trusting members can interact with each other without a trusted intermediary, in a verifiable manner. We review how this mechanism works and also look into smart contracts—scripts that reside on the blockchain that allow for the automation of multi-step processes. We then move into the IoT domain, and describe how a blockchain-IoT combination: 1) facilitates the sharing of services and resources leading to the creation of a marketplace of services between devices and 2) allows us to automate in a cryptographically verifiable manner several existing, time-consuming workflows. We also point out certain issues that should be considered before the deployment of a blockchain network in an IoT setting: from transactional privacy to the expected value of the digitized assets traded on the network. Wherever applicable, we identify solutions and workarounds. Our conclusion is that the blockchain-IoT combination is powerful and can cause significant transformations across several industries, paving the way for new business models and novel, distributed applications.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the implications of the emerging digital age for three broad domains of corporate strategy: (1) corporate (competitive) advantage, (2) firm scale, scope, and boundaries, and (3) internal structure and design.
Abstract: ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to reinvigorate research in the intersection of corporate strategy and the theory of the firm in light of the rapid advancement of digital technologies. Using the theory of the firm as an interpretive lens, we focus our analysis on the implications of the emerging digital age for three broad domains of corporate strategy: (1) corporate (competitive) advantage, (2) firm scale, scope, and boundaries, and (3) internal structure and design. Recognizing that digitalization exacerbates ambiguity and paradoxes, we sketch foundational strategies for future research. We suggest that there is a need to develop knowledge that accounts for the new realities of the digital age, depending on whether the corporate strategy phenomena under investigation and the theories of the firm used to explain them, are existing or new. The article serves also as introduction to the Journal of Management Studies Special Issue on the topic.
46 citations
TL;DR: This study is continuing the effort on surveying the applicability of Blockchain technology innovation in nonfinance (non-bitcoin) by discussing opportunities and challenges of the application of two intrahorizons of Blockchaintechnology, Cognitive Computing and Healthcare.
Abstract: Exponential growth of the impact of information technology innovation is an indispensable part of today’s industry. Blockchain technology has identified itself as an efficiency booster and service optimization for financial industries. Yet non-financial venues have gained little benefit from this new major horizon, Blockchain technology. It offers a secure way to exchange any kind of good, service, or transaction. Industrial growth increasingly depends on trusted partnerships; but increasing regulation, cybercrime and fraud are inhibiting expansion. Blockchain enables more agile value chains, faster product innovations, closer customer relationships, and faster integration with the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud technology. Now with Cloud and Blockchain technologies providing high computing power and network capabilities, cognitive systems are available tools to deepen the relationship between humans and the world. Many problems that have been with our society for a long time can be solved. Cognitive systems are the tools to accomplish that ambitious goal. This study is continuing our effort on surveying the applicability of Blockchain technology innovation in nonfinance (non-bitcoin). The study concluded with discussing opportunities and challenges of the application of two intrahorizons of Blockchain technology, Cognitive Computing and Healthcare.
45 citations
Cites methods from "Blockchains and Smart Contracts for..."
...Decentralized trust creation and scalability of Blockchain is being adjusted for the connection of sensors and actuators in the IoT using hybrid cloud platform by defining new business models with improved security and access privileges based on mapping the subscription request to the IoT as digital currency exchanges among users of IoT [14][15][16][17]....
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11 Nov 2019
TL;DR: This paper identifies and illustrates envisioned inter-organizational dataflows and the participating entities alongside two real-world use cases from the production domain: a fine blanking line and a connected job shop and proposes next steps for future research.
Abstract: The Internet of Production (IoP) envisions the interconnection of previously isolated CPS in the area of manufacturing across institutional boundaries to realize benefits such as increased profit margins and product quality as well as reduced product development costs and time to market. This interconnection of CPS will lead to a plethora of new dataflows, especially between (partially) distrusting entities. In this paper, we identify and illustrate these envisioned inter-organizational dataflows and the participating entities alongside two real-world use cases from the production domain: a fine blanking line and a connected job shop.Our analysis allows us to identify distinct security and privacy demands and challenges for these new dataflows. As a foundation to address the resulting requirements, we provide a survey of promising technical building blocks to secure inter-organizational dataflows in an IoP and propose next steps for future research. Consequently, we move an important step forward to overcome security and privacy concerns as an obstacle for realizing the promised potentials in an Internet of Production.
45 citations
Cites background from "Blockchains and Smart Contracts for..."
...From a different perspective, the concept of smart contracts [11, 18, 75] links the idea of blockchain with concepts of automated contracts....
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01 Sep 2019
TL;DR: This research publication provides a comprehensive analysis and approach merging the concepts of M2M application services, trust and distributed ledger technologies and presents an optimized Trust Evaluation System which is used to ensure trustworthiness among peers in a M2m community.
Abstract: The increasing number of intelligent Machine-to-Machine Communication (M2M) devices in the end-user domain provide good resources for creating and sharing M2M application services. Therefore, transferring the role of a traditional centralized service provider to decentralized peers (end-users) acting as service providers is very promising. However, the future of decentralized M2M application services which are independently provided or consumed by several end-users in the M2M community depends on trust. Untrustworthy peers trying to deploy malfunctioning services for others mitigate the benefits of decentralized systems. Nowadays, the concept of distributed ledger and blockchain has an increased popularity regarding trustless computing among communities operating without centralized authorities. This research publication provides a comprehensive analysis and approach merging the concepts of M2M application services, trust and distributed ledger technologies. Moreover, this publication presents an optimized Trust Evaluation System which is used to ensure trustworthiness among peers in a M2M community. To improve the Trust Evaluation System the integration of blockchain for data storage is introduced. Additionally, blockchain technology is used to extend the existing trust model of the Trust Evaluation System to enable tamper-proof data and detection of untrustworthy peers. This publication reviews several existing approaches in the academic and industry sector to highlight the limitations of the blockchain regarding the consensus and proposes a novel Trust Consensus Protocol. This research publication also provides a practical evaluation of the proposed protocol.
45 citations
01 Dec 2018
TL;DR: A literature overview of current progresses and security enhancement in sensor networks using BlockChain; their scope, prospects and limitations as well as some future directions are suggested to indicate further areas of improvement.
Abstract: The paper presents an in detailed case study of integrating BlockChain (BC) in IoT ecosystems in order to achieve security and privacy. Since the use in cryptocurrency, BlockChain has gained tremendous attraction due to the versatile application prospects it raises. As internet of things (IoT) is emerging towards the smart city requirements, device or data security seems to be a major concern. Therefore, BlockChain based decentralized and distributed system can meet the privacy preserving management in IoT ecosystems. In this paper, we discuss the necessity of utilizing BlockChain for IoT security, privacy, management. We present a literature overview of current progresses and security enhancement in sensor networks using BlockChain; their scope, prospects and limitations as well. Finally, we suggest some future directions to indicate further areas of improvement.
45 citations
References
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TL;DR: The Albanian Generals Problem as mentioned in this paper is a generalization of Dijkstra's dining philosophers problem, where two generals have to come to a common agreement on whether to attack or retreat, but can communicate only by sending messengers who might never arrive.
Abstract: I have long felt that, because it was posed as a cute problem about philosophers seated around a table, Dijkstra’s dining philosopher’s problem received much more attention than it deserves. (For example, it has probably received more attention in the theory community than the readers/writers problem, which illustrates the same principles and has much more practical importance.) I believed that the problem introduced in [41] was very important and deserved the attention of computer scientists. The popularity of the dining philosophers problem taught me that the best way to attract attention to a problem is to present it in terms of a story. There is a problem in distributed computing that is sometimes called the Chinese Generals Problem, in which two generals have to come to a common agreement on whether to attack or retreat, but can communicate only by sending messengers who might never arrive. I stole the idea of the generals and posed the problem in terms of a group of generals, some of whom may be traitors, who have to reach a common decision. I wanted to assign the generals a nationality that would not offend any readers. At the time, Albania was a completely closed society, and I felt it unlikely that there would be any Albanians around to object, so the original title of this paper was The Albanian Generals Problem. Jack Goldberg was smart enough to realize that there were Albanians in the world outside Albania, and Albania might not always be a black hole, so he suggested that I find another name. The obviously more appropriate Byzantine generals then occurred to me. The main reason for writing this paper was to assign the new name to the problem. But a new paper needed new results as well. I came up with a simpler way to describe the general 3n+1-processor algorithm. (Shostak’s 4-processor algorithm was subtle but easy to understand; Pease’s generalization was a remarkable tour de force.) We also added a generalization to networks that were not completely connected. (I don’t remember whose work that was.) I also added some discussion of practical implementation details.
5,208 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a group of generals of the Byzantine army camped with their troops around an enemy city are shown to agree upon a common battle plan using only oral messages, if and only if more than two-thirds of the generals are loyal; so a single traitor can confound two loyal generals.
Abstract: Reliable computer systems must handle malfunctioning components that give conflicting information to different parts of the system. This situation can be expressed abstractly in terms of a group of generals of the Byzantine army camped with their troops around an enemy city. Communicating only by messenger, the generals must agree upon a common battle plan. However, one or more of them may be traitors who will try to confuse the others. The problem is to find an algorithm to ensure that the loyal generals will reach agreement. It is shown that, using only oral messages, this problem is solvable if and only if more than two-thirds of the generals are loyal; so a single traitor can confound two loyal generals. With unforgeable written messages, the problem is solvable for any number of generals and possible traitors. Applications of the solutions to reliable computer systems are then discussed.
4,901 citations
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TL;DR: It is shown that, without a logically centralized authority, Sybil attacks are always possible except under extreme and unrealistic assumptions of resource parity and coordination among entities.
Abstract: Large-scale peer-to-peer systems face security threats from faulty or hostile remote computing elements. To resist these threats, many such systems employ redundancy. However, if a single faulty entity can present multiple identities, it can control a substantial fraction of the system, thereby undermining this redundancy. One approach to preventing these "Sybil attacks" is to have a trusted agency certify identities. This paper shows that, without a logically centralized authority, Sybil attacks are always possible except under extreme and unrealistic assumptions of resource parity and coordination among entities.
4,816 citations
"Blockchains and Smart Contracts for..." refers background in this paper
...Because of the Sybil attack [15], consensus in public networks is costly...
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...anyone can join though, this would be catastrophic because of the Sybil attack [15]: a single entity could join with multiple identities, get multiple votes, and thus influence the network to favor this entity’s interests....
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22 Feb 1999
TL;DR: A new replication algorithm that is able to tolerate Byzantine faults that works in asynchronous environments like the Internet and incorporates several important optimizations that improve the response time of previous algorithms by more than an order of magnitude.
Abstract: This paper describes a new replication algorithm that is able to tolerate Byzantine faults. We believe that Byzantinefault-tolerant algorithms will be increasingly important in the future because malicious attacks and software errors are increasingly common and can cause faulty nodes to exhibit arbitrary behavior. Whereas previous algorithms assumed a synchronous system or were too slow to be used in practice, the algorithm described in this paper is practical: it works in asynchronous environments like the Internet and incorporates several important optimizations that improve the response time of previous algorithms by more than an order of magnitude. We implemented a Byzantine-fault-tolerant NFS service using our algorithm and measured its performance. The results show that our service is only 3% slower than a standard unreplicated NFS.
3,562 citations
"Blockchains and Smart Contracts for..." refers background or methods in this paper
...5If more than 3f + 1 nodes are used, then the quorum thresholds listed in [26] may lead to forks....
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...Tendermint vs PBFT—Tendermint....
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...Sieve [38], a mechanism used in the HyperLedger Fabric project, augments the PBFT algorithm [26] by adding speculative execution and verification phases, inspired by the execute-verify architecture presented in [39]....
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...Tendermint [32] provides BFT tolerance and is similar to the PBFT algorithm; however it provides a tighter guarantee with regards to the results returned to the client when more than one third of the nodes are faulty, and allows for a dynamically changing set of set of validators, and leaders that can be rotated in a round-robin manner, among other optimizations [33]....
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...PBFT works on the assumption that less than one third of the nodes are faulty (f ), which is why say that it requires at least5 3f + 1 nodes....
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Proceedings Article•
19 Jun 2014TL;DR: Raft is a consensus algorithm for managing a replicated log that separates the key elements of consensus, such as leader election, log replication, and safety, and it enforces a stronger degree of coherency to reduce the number of states that must be considered.
Abstract: Raft is a consensus algorithm for managing a replicated log. It produces a result equivalent to (multi-)Paxos, and it is as efficient as Paxos, but its structure is different from Paxos; this makes Raft more understandable than Paxos and also provides a better foundation for building practical systems. In order to enhance understandability, Raft separates the key elements of consensus, such as leader election, log replication, and safety, and it enforces a stronger degree of coherency to reduce the number of states that must be considered. Results from a user study demonstrate that Raft is easier for students to learn than Paxos. Raft also includes a new mechanism for changing the cluster membership, which uses overlapping majorities to guarantee safety.
1,811 citations
"Blockchains and Smart Contracts for..." refers methods in this paper
...popular Raft algorithm [30], is used as a consensus mechanism in Juno [31]....
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