Secure IoT update using blockchain

Abstract

In this study a platform is devised to send automatic remote updates for embedded devices. In this scenario there are Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), Software suppliers, blockchain nodes, Gateways and embedded devices. OEMs and software suppliers are there to keep their software on Inter Planetary File System (IPFS) and send the meta-data and hashes of their software to the blockchain nodes in order to keep this information distributed and ready to be requested and used. There are also gateways which are the members of the blockchain and the IPFS network. Gateways are responsible for asking for a specific update for specific devices from IPFS database using the meta-data kept on the blockchain, and they will send those hashed secure updates to the devices. In order to provide a traceable data keeping platform, gateway update operations are handled as transactions in a second blockchain network which is the clockchain of the gateways. The system was implemented as of the two separate blockchain networks and it has been shown that, despite the calculation overhead of the member devices, by separating the functions between the two blockchain networks a more reliable and secure platform can be achieved.