Identity Management in Internet
of Things with Blockchain
Maria Polychronaki
, Dimitrios G. Kogias
,
and Charalampos Z. Patrikakis
Abstract Internet of Things (IoT) is characterized by heterogeneity of devices,
software and communication protocols when it comes to the implementation of any
practical solutions. Especially in use cases such as smart cities, where scalability
is very important and increased, the complexity of an Internet of Things system
introduces issues on the management and privacy of both (smart) devices and users.
Identity and access management is the set of policies applied on a system restricting
or allowing access of acting entities (devices and users) to the system’s services.
OAuth and Single-Sign on are two of the widest used implementations for iden-
tity and access management. This book chapter targets exploring the new ways in
which blockchain technology can significantly improve identity management in IoT
by utilizing decentralized identity structures and specific cryptographic techniques
applied by it.
Keywords Identity management · Decentralized identity · IAM · Blockchain ·
Cryptography
1
Introduction
Identity management is one of the most important key points when it comes to
securing privacy in the Internet of Things. Devices need to communicate with each
other, while at the same time humans are interacting with the system. The most unique
aspect of IoT is that its purpose is not only to transfer data from one component to
another but to make decisions based on those data. Considering the fact that these data
M. Polychronaki (B) · D. G. Kogias · C. Z. Patrikakis
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of West Attica, Attica, Greece
e-mail: [email protected]
D. G. Kogias
e-mail: [email protected]
C. Z. Patrikakis
e-mail: [email protected]
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022
D. De and S. Bhattacharyya (eds.), Blockchain based Internet of Things,
Lecture Notes on Data Engineering and Communications Technologies 112,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-9260-4_9
209