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The case for blockchain in IoT identity management

Patrícia R. Sousa (Center for Research in Advanced Computing Systems, Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores Tecnologia e Ciencia, Porto, Portugal) (Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Sciences, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal)
João S. Resende (Center for Research in Advanced Computing Systems, Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores Tecnologia e Ciencia, Porto, Portugal) (Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Sciences, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal)
Rolando Martins (Center for Research in Advanced Computing Systems, Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores Tecnologia e Ciencia, Porto, Portugal) (Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Sciences, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal)
Luís Antunes (Center for Research in Advanced Computing Systems, Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores Tecnologia e Ciencia, Porto, Portugal) (Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Sciences, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal)

Journal of Enterprise Information Management

ISSN: 1741-0398

Article publication date: 2 June 2020

Issue publication date: 24 November 2022

921

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the use of blockchain for identity management (IdM) in the context of the Internet of things (IoT) while focusing on privacy-preserving approaches and its applications to healthcare scenarios.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper describes the most relevant IdM systems focusing on privacy preserving with or without blockchain and evaluates them against ten selected features grouped into three categories: privacy, usability and IoT. Then, it is important to analyze whether blockchain should be used in all scenarios, according to the importance of each feature for different use cases.

Findings

Based on analysis of existing systems, Sovrin is the IdM system that covers more features and is based on blockchain. For each of the evaluated use cases, Sovrin and UniquID were the chosen systems.

Research limitations/implications

This paper opens new lines of research for IdM systems in IoT, including challenges related to device identity definition, privacy preserving and new security mechanisms.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the ongoing research in IdM systems for IoT. The adequacy of blockchain is not only analyzed considering the technology; instead the authors analyze its application to real environments considering the required features for each use case.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The work of Patrícia R. Sousa and João S. Resende was supported by a scholarship from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal (scholarships number SFRH/BD/135696/2018, PD/BD/128149/2016). This work is also financed by National Funds through the FCT— Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within the project CMU/CS/0042/2017. This work has been supported also by the EU H2020-SU-ICT-03-2018 Project No. 830929 CyberSec4Europe (cybersec4Europe.eu), Project “Safe Cities”, ref. POCI-01-0247-FEDER-041435, financed by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER), through COMPETE 2020 and Portugal 2020.

Citation

Sousa, P.R., Resende, J.S., Martins, R. and Antunes, L. (2022), "The case for blockchain in IoT identity management", Journal of Enterprise Information Management, Vol. 35 No. 6, pp. 1477-1505. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-07-2018-0148

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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