The folder latex_files can be used as a template for Master's thesis for Computer Science department in the University of Helsinki, Finland. This repo does not contain the implementation.
The Internet of Things is a proliferating industry, which is transforming many homes and businesses, making them smart. However, the rapid growth of these devices and the interactions between these devices, introduces many challenges including that of a secure management system for the identities and interactions of the devices. While the centralized model has worked well for many years, there is a risk of the servers becoming bottlenecks and a single point of failure, thereby making them vulnerable to Denial-of-Service attacks.
As a backbone of these interactions, Blockchain is capable of creating a highly secure, independent and distributed platform. Blockchain is a peer to peer, distributed ledger system that stores all the transactions taking place within the network. The main purpose of the servers that form a part of the distributed system is to provide a consensus, using various consensus algorithms, on the state of the blockchain at any given time and to store a copy of all the transactions taking place.
This thesis explores the Blockchain technology in general and investigates its potential with regard to access management of constrained devices. A proof of concept system has been designed and implemented that demonstrates a simplified access management system using Ethereum Blockchain. This was done to check whether the concept can be applied at a global level. Although the latency of the network depends on the computing power of the resources participating in the Blockchain, an evaluation of the proof of concept system has been made, keeping in mind the smallest device that can be involved in the consensus process. Docker containers have been used to simulate a cluster of the nodes participating in the Blockchain, in order to examine the implemented system. An outline of the various advantages and the limitations of Blockchains in general, as well as the developed proof of concept system, has also been provided.