IoT Secure Connection via Blockchain Peer Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
IoT devices face challenges in establishing a secured connection when they first connect to an IoT network, as they need to verify the actual current time and PKI certificates, but without a trusted time source, this validation is impossible, leading to potential vulnerabilities like man-in-the-middle attacks.
Innovation Solution
The method involves connecting to a network, retrieving a last known block header hash from memory, connecting to trusted peers, and verifying the latest block headers to form a new blockchain, ensuring a secure connection by trusting a majority of peers' block headers referenced to the last known block, thus establishing a trusted time source.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If PKI certificate validation is performed, then connection security is improved, but the process cannot start without a trusted time source
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-storing a last known valid block header hash in the device memory before the device is deployed or before it needs to establish secure connections. This pre-stored hash serves as a starting point that eliminates the need for a trusted time source during initial connection, allowing the device to independently verify blockchain headers and establish secure connections without external trust infrastructure.
2Reliability
If blockchain verification is performed to establish trust, then connection security is improved, but the complexity of the connection process increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex time synchronization and trusted source verification processes from the connection establishment procedure. By isolating the blockchain verification to only what is necessary (comparing block header hashes) and using the pre-stored last known hash as a reference point, the patent reduces the complexity of the overall connection process while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The verification process is segmented into discrete, manageable steps: retrieving the last known block header hash from memory, obtaining the current block header from the peer, comparing the hashes, and making a binary decision about trust. This segmentation transforms a potentially overwhelming verification process into simple, executable steps that can be implemented in resource-constrained IoT devices.
3Reliability
If the device stores a last known block header hash, then the ability to verify blockchain authenticity is improved, but the device requires additional memory resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent treats the stored block header hash as a minimal, disposable piece of data that is used once for verification and then can be discarded or overwritten. The block header hash is a relatively small data structure compared to storing entire blockchain data, making it a cheap storage solution in terms of memory resources. This approach allows verification capability without significant memory overhead.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for establishing secured connection on an apparatus, comprising: connecting to a network; retrieving a last known block header hash corresponding to a last known block in a last known blockchain; connecting to a plurality of trusted peers via the network; in response to each trusted peer being successfully connected, downloading a latest block header of the trusted peers; based on the last known block header hash, determining whether the latest block header of each trusted peers is referenced to the last known block; and in response to a first number exceeding a threshold number, verifying the latest block header to form a latest version blockchain, wherein the first number is a number of peers in the plurality of trusted peers being successfully connected, and the peers have the latest block header being referenced to the last known block.