Message Block Reordering for IoT Data Protection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Resource-constrained IoT devices lack the computational capability to perform encryption and decryption efficiently, making it difficult to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access, especially when generating and communicating large volumes of data.

Innovation Solution

A method involving splitting messages into ordered blocks, generating hash values, and encoding block positions using a shared secret, allowing for reassembly while obfuscating the message by rearranging and communicating blocks in a different order, thereby imposing a computational burden on would-be data interceptors.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If encryption is used to protect data, then data security is improved, but computational resource requirements increase beyond the capability of IoT devices

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata securityVSAvoidcomputational resource consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The message is divided into multiple blocks that are transmitted separately. Each block contains an encoded position indicator that enables reassembly without requiring cryptographic operations. This segmentation allows IoT devices to protect data through simple blocking and reordering operations rather than computationally intensive encryption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Position indicators serve as intermediaries that carry ordering information within each message block. These indicators are encoded using hash functions and XOR operations, providing a lightweight mechanism for securing message reconstruction without requiring full encryption of the data payload.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Ease of operation

If message blocks are transmitted in proper order, then message reconstruction is simplified, but data becomes vulnerable to interception and reading

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemessage reconstruction simplicityVSAvoiddata vulnerability to interception

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of transmitting blocks in their natural sequential order, the system transmits them in a shuffled order determined by encoded position indicators. This inversion of the transmission order prevents interceptors from easily reading the message while the receiving device can reconstruct the proper sequence using the embedded position information and shared secret.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

Solution Approach 2:

The position indicators are encoded by changing parameters (using hash functions and XOR with shared secret) rather than transmitting raw position values. This parameter transformation obscures the true ordering information from interceptors while enabling accurate reconstruction at the receiving end.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

3Reliability

If position indicators are encoded using shared secret, then unauthorized access is prevented, but computational complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveaccess control securityVSAvoidencoding and decoding complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system replaces complex cryptographic mechanisms with simpler hash-based encoding and XOR operations. Instead of implementing full encryption suites, IoT devices use lightweight hash functions combined with shared secrets to encode position indicators, achieving security with minimal computational overhead.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

4Loss of information

If all message blocks are transmitted, then complete message can be reconstructed, but transmission time increases due to reordering requirements

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemessage completenessVSAvoidmessage transmission and reassembly time

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

Position indicators are pre-encoded into each message block before transmission. This preliminary encoding of ordering information within the blocks themselves eliminates the need for separate signaling or complex synchronization protocols, allowing parallel transmission of all blocks followed by efficient client-side reassembly using the embedded position data.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS11664981B2Impeding data access

Publication Date: 2023.05.30 BRITISH TELECOM PLC

AI summary

A computer implemented method of protecting data in a message for communication from a sender to a receiver, the sender and receiver sharing a secret, the method including splitting the message into a plurality of ordered message blocks, the order being a proper order such that an aggregation of the blocks in the proper order constitutes the message; generating a hash value for each message block, each hash value being generated on the basis of at least a content of the block and the secret; generating, for each block, an encoded indication of a position of the block in the proper order of blocks, the encoding being reversible and based on at least the hash value for the block and a position of the block in the proper order; communicating the blocks to the receiver in an order different to the proper order so as to obfuscate the message; and communicating the encoded indications to the receiver such that the blocks can be reassembled by the receiver in the proper order on the basis of the shared secret.