DABAC: Smart Contract-Based Spatio-Temporal Domain Access Control for the Internet of Things

Abstract

With the advent of IoT technology, the dynamic nature of IoT devices has introduced new obstacles to access control. It is essential to consider the security requirements of the actual physical environment, rendering the traditional access control approach centered on the information space. In the IoT ecosystem, there are several issues such as the dynamics of devices frequently entering and leaving, the lack of computing and storage capacity, and distributed deployment. To address these challenges, this paper proposes the Domain Attribute Based Access Control(DABAC) that incorporates domain elements to implement the physical location limitation of dynamic devices. Moreover, an intelligent gateway is utilized to divide the physical area and act as a proxy to achieve regional device management, automatic networking of devices in the domain, and the dynamic expansion of the sensor network resulting from device entry or exit. Then, given the distributed deployment of devices, smart contracts are employed to deploy access control mechanisms and construct a trusted environment to mitigate threats such as single points of failure. Finally, the DABAC is implemented on the Ethereum platform, simulating a smart medical situation. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed solution effectively addresses the problem of access control of device dynamics in an untrusted IoT environment while maintaining system security. INDEX TERMS access control, blockchain, dynamics, Internet of Things, spatio-temporal constraintsThis article has been accepted for publication in IEEE Access.

Smart Contract-Based Access Control Framework for Internet of Things Devices

“…Feifei Guo et al [36] have proposed a domain attribute-based access control (DABAC) approach to address access control challenges in dynamic IoT environments. The proposed solution relies on an intelligent gateway for regional device management, which may introduce a single point of failure and potential scalability concerns.…”

“…Usability Security Scalability Interoperability Automated [29] x x [30] x x [31] x [32] x x x [33] x x [34] x [35] x x [36] x [37] x x [38] x x Proposed Scheme…”

A Smart Contract-Driven Access Control Schemewith Integrity Checking for Electronic Health Records

“…Integrating smart contracts with existing access control models is the main design pattern of access control schemes. Guo et al [32] proposed a fine-grained data access control scheme using attribute-based access control (ABAC) model and Turing-complete smart contracts. Nakamura et al [33] proposed a trustworthy Capability-Based Access Control (CapBAC) scheme using the Ethereum blockchain.…”

Validating the Blockchain Benchmarking Framework Through Controlled Deployments of XRPL and Ethereum

“…Our choice of XRPL and Ethereum was guided by their contrasting algorithmic and architectural design, which are indicative of the broad spectrum of existing blockchain platforms. While XRPL is optimized for high-speed, high-volume financial transactions, Ethereum is characterized by its versatile, Turing-complete smart contract capabilities [10]. It is essential to note that in our study, the BBF was applied to the official Docker clients of these platforms, providing a realistic testing environment for our analysis.…”