SATI: Sidechain-Based Access Control & Trust Mechanism for IoT Networks

Providing low latency, high security, and high resource utilization for Internet of Things (IoT) networks is challenging due to the heterogeneous nature of these networks and the need for more standardization in security algorithms. Current edge computing-based IoT solutions decrease network latency and improve resource utilization but do not provide adequate security because they offer multiple attack surfaces for adversaries. Recent work uses blockchain technology to provide better security in IoT networks. However, blockchain-based solutions suffer from scalability problems and can increase latency. Sidechains are parallel blockchain networks typically used to increase the scalability of blockchain networks. We propose a novel Sidechain-based Access control and Trust evaluation mechanism for IoT networks (SATI) to decrease network latency and improve scalability, security, and energy efficiency. SATI uses a sidechain with the blockchain network to improve its scalability. It also uses edge computing to provide low network latency and high resource utilization in terms of CPU and memory usage. In addition, trust evaluation and attribute-based access control mechanisms are used to improve the security of the IoT network. We compare our work with existing mechanisms in terms of scalability, security, latency, and CPU and memory usage. In addition, we perform a formal security analysis of the SATI mechanism using reduction-based analysis and the Scyther verification tool.