It is estimated that there will be close to 30 billion Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices connected globally by 2025. But as IoT devices become common in use cases such as home automation, energy grids, supply chain, connected cars, smart cities, and smart warehouses, the security of the networks becomes of utmost importance.
What if hackers exploit the IoT devices in our energy grid and shut off power to millions of people? What if hackers hijack connected cars and cause them to collide with each other?
Solution:
Data and access are protected using blockchain technology while still maintaining the benefits of the network effects of IoT devices.
- Data can be encrypted to ensure its integrity and can be decrypted only by entities or smart contracts with the necessary private keys.
- Vulnerabilities in the system can be identified quickly as nodes stay synced with each other to weed out bad actors.
- IoT devices on different networks can share data securely to maximize mutual benefits.
- IoT devices can push data into the network through smart contracts if certain physical conditions are met to enable sophisticated and automated applications.
- Access control can be secured using private keys that can be permanently or temporarily used by different entities depending on the specific use cases.
Critical systems will not be able to benefit from the IoT devices because security vulnerabilities could even make it a matter of national security. Blockchains can provide a superior way to protect the network and enable new use cases altogether.