Can Blockchain Stop the Total Digital Apocalypse?: A Few Concerns About IoT

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MIMIR Blockchain Publication

7 min readJun 20, 2018

The Internet of Things or IoT is evolving at a rate that can be hard to keep up with, even for those following tech. Despite their complicated nature, IoT and edge-connected devices are more relevant than ever in our daily lives. These devices range from the thermostats and refrigerators in our homes, to industrial and agricultural automation and production, to implanted devices inside humans to monitor health. The potential for IoT/edge devices is limitless, but there are still some major kinks to be worked out, and we think blockchain might help.

Brief IoT Intro

IoT is everywhere. It’s a way to connect “everyone and everything [by embedding] some intelligence into Internet-connected objects [as well as edge connected devices] to communicate, exchange information” [1]. (Side note: all IoT devices are edge-connected devices but not all edge-connected devices are IoT devices.) There are billions of devices in existence already. We’ve seen the surge of “smart homes” and the ability to control your residence with a tap on your phone. Smart devices and sensors are everywhere, even on our bodies. Entire cities are looking to redo infrastructure to run on smart grids uses IoT technology. So whether we’re talking pacemakers or smart cities, the space is advancing at a dizzying pace.

Where’s It Headed?

We aren’t here to rehash all the great tech on the horizon. In fact, we don’t plan to talk about the benefits of IoT/edge devices at all. Instead, we want to start by introducing potential complications tied to the proliferation of IoT and edge-connected devices. Then, after exploring these possible issues, we propose a few solutions, solutions involving the use of blockchain technology. According to Cisco Systems[2], we’re looking at hundreds of billions of connected devices in the coming years. We should be able to secure those devices, yeah?

In terms of new tech, the world appears to be opting for the “go big or go home” approach. Smart systems and locations/environments are being created instead of stand-alone smart devices. Smart environments, defined by Mark Weiser, father of ubiquitous computing, are ―”the physical world that is richly and invisibly interwoven with sensors, actuators, displays, and computational elements, embedded seamlessly in the everyday objects of our lives, and connected through a continuous network.” This Weiser quote is from a 1999 edition of the IBM Systems Journal and still applies to the potential of IoT/edge-connected devices.

As soon as we forget the technology around us, that technology becomes ubiquitous. It happened with web browsers and smartphones, even crosswalks and stop lights. I mention these last two as examples we probably don’t think about anymore. But with all this convenience and improvement to our day-to-day lives, we must ensure it’s brought about, and handled, in a responsible manner. This is especially important as these devices are already nearly invisible to the naked eye. There are plenty of problem areas with the frenetic expansion of IoT and edge-connected devices. Let’s explore some these challenges for the sake of awareness and to start the conversation on how we avoid (or minimize) them.

Challenges

The Big Three: Security. Transparency. Scalability.

There are IoT devices are already millimeters in size. What could go wrong, considering these are basically tiny web servers? How do we stop devices from stealing personal information or spreading malware through a network? How can we keep refrigerators from providing malicious actors with credit card information, or baby monitors from being accessed by anyone with an internet connection? These are some early questions surrounding IoT and edge-connected devices. In the past, you worried about computers or maybe televisions being infected with viruses and malware. Today, you also need to keep coffee makers and fitness bands safe too.

Not only are we concerned with security, how do/will these devices interact with their networks? Could they potentially incur extra costs for consumers? Currently, most IoT/edge devices are only using a network connection. But what happens if companies try to blur the lines between what’s included and what’s something the customer pays to utilize? We aren’t explicitly suggesting anything nefarious, but consumers have a right to know how their information is being used and what that’s going to cost. As more devices go into circulation, some will not only send and receive data but also store it. Companies must be transparent with what sort of information their products collect, what they do with that information, and how much that’ll cost us. Blockchain can help. All that said, consumers should still research before they buy to avoid some of the monetary or privacy-related surprises included with their new devices.

Security and transparency aren’t the only concerns. There’s also the looming issue of preventing overburdened networks as more devices are connected. The more devices, the heavier the load and the more complicated protection becomes. We can’t allow capacity bottlenecks to clog the system. For starters, we need a power grid capable of handling the abundance of newly-connected devices introduced into the world. But blockchain can help with the scalability of these networks as well.

Basically, the more “things” we add to the “Internet of”, the more complications that arise. A few of the larger challenges are keeping users safe, maintaining transparency, and scalability of these various networks. Consider the difficulty of these things when talking a few thousand or a few million devices? Now expand that to billions of devices that need to run in harmony with each other and their networks, while not getting hacked, and all the while providing users control over their information. Needless to say, these problems require forward-thinking solutions.

Potential Solutions

Despite there being no easy fix for the challenges mentioned above, there’s still hope. It’s imperative for tech companies to secure and upgrade their devices to keep up with competitors but, more importantly, to also keep consumers and their information safe. If developers and tech companies are committed to a world with billions of IoT and edge-connected devices, they should also be committed to creating and maintaining ecosystems that are safe for all involved. Some tech companies have already made it their business to simplify the use of their products while keeping them secure. New and future IoT/edge products should be made with that goal in mind as well.

Blockchain technology can help mitigate some of the major concerns when it comes to IoT and edge-connected devices. Blockchain can help those devices “play nice” and keep them from introducing malicious code into the network or, worse, other networks. Without one central point of failure, these products will be much harder to attack. Given how many devices there’s soon to be in circulation, both new and old, the blockchain can provide an immutable record that helps track the product life of these devices. Companies in the blockchain space are working to handle the issues of security, transparency, and scaling to allow the proliferation of IoT/edge devices to continue without the threat of malicious intent from outside parties.

Security is in the very essence of blockchain technology. You have an immutable, public record of everything happening in the system. It’s is like the home security system on top of the deadbolts on your doors. Blockchain can monitor the overall security of the whole system and provide an extra layer of protection for those using that system. Just as with the other solutions we’ll lay out below, we are not suggesting blockchain is the absolute fail-safe in terms of the security of all present and future IoT/edge devices. We do, however, believe the blockchain adds some seriously useful bells and whistles under the hood when securing all these devices from potential outside threats.

Transparency is key while we bring more IoT and edge-connected devices online. To put it plainly, users should know what information is being shared and with whom. Blockchain (while unable to force companies not to abuse user information) can at least help secure user data and prevent data leaks. Users can choose who is allowed to view their information and how that information is being used by these approved parties. Blockchain will directly impact transparency in the IoT/edge space because consumers can control access to their data. It will allow companies to securely share the information with each other as well. This is no small feat, as we are approaching a world where we may no longer be aware of when and how we are being monitored or what our digital footprints look like. WIth the help of blockchain, you at least get to own your data.

To help with scaling, we can start by utilizing the existing blockchain nodes already connected to various networks. We have access to decentralized, secure networks that are expanding quickly. Why not use them? There are also infrastructure solutions in development that can further facilitate connectivity with IoT/edge devices. The blockchain allows for more efficient network topologies and operation. Granted, blockchain technology must scale accordingly and remain as secure as its premise suggests. No doubt, there’s still work left to be done. If we cannot scale the blockchain, we cannot use it with the billions of incoming IoT and edge-connected devices. By meeting the demands of blockchain growth, we can utilize the technology to scale alongside the wide variety of IoT/edge devices connecting to our home networks and the rest of the internet.

As devices with the capability of connecting to the world become more numerous and harder to keep track of, equally high-tech solutions must arrive to make sure everything stays on the up and up. We propose managing these devices through the blockchain. This would add security, transparency, and scalability to the world of IoT and edge-connected devices. To stop the digital IoT apocalypse, we need a blockchain-backed revolution. Maybe it isn’t the miracle cure, but it’ll certainly help with a few lingering concerns. All we can definitively say is what a lot of people have said better: it’s a great time in tech.

To stop the total digital apocalypse, we need a revolution and (part of) that revolution will be trustless.