Abstract. We present the European research project GHOST, (Safeguarding home IoT environments with personalised real-time risk control), which challenges the traditional cyber security solutions for the IoT by proposing a novel reference architecture that is embedded in an adequately adapted smart home network gateway, and designed to be vendor-independent. GHOST proposes to lead a paradigm shift in consumer cyber security by coupling usable security with transparency and behavioural engineering.

The Internet of Things (IoT) makes our lives much easier, more valuable, and less stressful due to the development of many applications around us including smart cities, smart cars, and smart grids, offering endless services and solutions. Protecting IoT data of such applications at rest either on the objects or in the cloud is an indispensable requirement for achieving a symmetry in the handling and protection of the IoT, as we do with data created by persons and applications. This is because unauthorised access to such data may lead to harmful consequences such as linkage attacks, loss of privacy, and data manipulation. Such undesired implications may jeopardise the existence of IoT applications if protection measures are not taken, and they stem from two main factors. One is that IoT objects have limited capabilities in terms of memory capacity, battery life, and computational power that hamper the direct implementation of conventional Internet security solutions without some modifications (e.g., traditional symmetric algorithms). Another factor is the absence of widely accepted IoT security and privacy guidelines for IoT data at rest and their appropriate countermeasures, which would help IoT stakeholders (e.g., developers, manufacturers) to develop secure IoT systems and therefore enhance IoT security and privacy by design. Toward this end, we first briefly describe the main IoT security goals and identify IoT stakeholders. Moreover, we briefly discuss the most well-known data protection frameworks (e.g., General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Health Insurance Portability (HIPAA)). Second, we highlight potential attacks and threats against data at rest and show their violated security goals (e.g., confidentiality and integrity). Third, we review a list of protection measures by which our proposed guidelines can be accomplished. Fourth, we propose a framework of security and privacy guidelines for IoT data at rest that can be utilised to enhance IoT security and privacy by design and establish a symmetry with the protection of user-created data. Our framework also presents the link between the suggested guidelines, mitigation techniques, and attacks. Moreover, we state those IoT stakeholders (e.g., manufacturers, developers) who will benefit most from these guidelines. Finally, we suggest several open issues requiring further investigation in the future, and we also discuss the limitations of our suggested framework.

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Abstract. Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that became popular as the foundational block of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. Over the past few years it has seen a rapid growth, both in terms of research and commercial usage. Due to its decentralized nature and its inherent use of cryptography, Blockchain provides an elegant solution to the Byzantine Generals Problem and is thus a good candidate for use in areas that require a decentralized consensus among untrusted peers, eliminating the need for a central authority. Internet of Things is a technology paradigm where a multitude of small devices, including sensors, actuators and RFID tags, are interconnected via a common communications medium to enable a whole new range of tasks and applications. However, existing IoT installations are often vulnerable and prone to security and privacy concerns. This paper studies the use of Blockchain to strengthen the security of IoT networks through a resilient, decentralized mechanism for the connected home that enhances the network self-defense by safeguarding critical security-related data. This mechanism is developed as part of the Safe-Guarding Home IoT Environments with Personalised Real-time Risk Control (GHOST) project.

The H2020 European research project GHOST-SafeGuarding Home IoT Environments with Personalised Realtime Risk Control-aims to deploy a highly effective security framework for IoT smart home residents through a novel reference architecture for user-centric cyber security in smart homes providing an unobtrusive and user-comprehensible solution. The aforementioned security framework leads to a transparent cyber security environment by increasing the effectiveness of the existing cyber security services and enhancing system's self-defence through disruptive software-enabled network security solutions. In this paper, GHOST security framework for IoT-based smart homes is presented. It is aiming to address the security challenges posed by several types of attacks, such as network, device and software. The effective design of the overall multilayered architecture is analysed, with particular emphasis given to the integration aspects through dynamic and re-configurable solutions and the features provided by each one of the architectural layers. Additionally, real-life trials and the associated use cases are described showcasing the competences and potential of the proposed framework.

The H2020 European research project SafeGuarding Home IoT Environments with Personalised Real-time Risk Control (GHOST) aims to develop a cyber-security layer on IoT smart home installations. The proposed system analyses packet-level data flows for building patterns of communications between IoT devices and external entities. To ensure nonrepudiation, integrity and authentication of the data captured, they are stored in a Blockchain, a distributed ledger network, as digitally-signed transactions. Since the data can potentially include sensitive user information, it is imperative to promote trust by informing users about the operating principles of the network as well as to request the acceptance of a consent form by them. This paper presents the design and implementation of a Forms of Consent application, a Distributed Application that interacts with a set of Smart Contracts deployed on a private Ethereum network. The application is being developed as part of the GHOST project.

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Fully automated homes, equipped with the latest iot devices, aiming to drastically improve the quality of lives of those inhabiting such homes, is it not a perfect setting for cyber threats? More than that, this is a fear of many regular citizens and a trending topic for researchers to apply cti for seamless cyber security. This paper focuses on the ra methodology for smarthome environments, targeting to include all types of iot devices. Unfortunately, existing approaches mostly focus on the manual or periodic formal ra, or individual device-specific cyber security solutions. This paper presents a draf, aiming to automate the identification of ongoing attacks and the evaluation of the likelihood of associated risks. Moreover, draf dynamically proposes mitigation strategies when full automation of the decision making is not possible. The theoretical model of draf was implemented and tested in smarthome testbeds deployed in several European countries. The resulting data indicate strong promises for the automation of decision making to control the tightly coupled balance between cyber security and privacy compromise in terms of the embedded services’ usability, end-users’ expectations and their level of cyber concerns.