BlockSIEM: Protecting Smart City Services through a Blockchain-based and Distributed SIEM

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm has revolutionized several industries (e.g., manufacturing, health, transport, education, among others) by allowing objects to connect to the Internet and, thus, enabling a variety of novel applications. In this sense, IoT devices have become an essential component of smart cities, allowing many novel and useful services, but, at the same time, bringing numerous cybersecurity threats. The paper at hand proposes BlockSIEM, a blockchain-based and distributed Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution framework for the protection of the aforementioned smart city services. The proposed SIEM relies on blockchain technology to securely store and access security events. Such security events are generated by IoT sentinels that are in charge of shielding groups of IoT devices. The IoT sentinels may be deployed in smart city scenarios, such as smart hospitals, smart transport systems, smart airports, among others, ensuring a satisfactory level of protection. The blockchain guarantees the non-repudiation and traceability of the registry of security events due to its features. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach, our proposal is implemented using Ethereum and validated through different use cases and experiments.

Associated Information and Communication Technologies Challenges of Smart City Development

“…A possible mitigation measure for such risks is developing a good communication network monitoring system based on artificial intelligence (AI) for early recognition of threats, frauds, crimes, and accidents [20]. In [20,40,41], the authors proposed integrating blockchain and other encryption technologies with smart city systems to identify asymmetrical behavior, recognize the threat, and ensure data security. Achieving secure smart cities requires a holistic approach that acts in parallel with utilizing advanced technologies such as blockchain, software-defined networks (SDN), game theory, and ontology [42].…”

A Bio-Inspired Reaction Against Cyberattacks: AIS-Powered Optimal Countermeasures Selection

“…Content may change prior to final publication. by means of vulnerabilities reports 3 . Thus, each asset of the network is connected to a vulnerabilities set, assuming that an asset can possess one or more vulnerabilities simultaneously.…”

“…It has to be stated that the countermeasures belonging to the aforementioned set have to be considered as atomic objects, meaning that each one of them represents a fine-granularity reaction step. Besides, the countermeasures set features high 3 https://www.bmc.com/blogs/vulnerability-reports/ dynamism within the reaction strategy since the included atomic countermeasures can be deleted (e.g., an individual asset or threat does not exist anymore in the system) or added (e.g., the appearance of new assets or threats) over time. Additionally, the countermeasures are stored following the standard representation described in Section II-C. Those objects represent the antibodies that the AIS-powered countermeasure system will select to fight against the antigens.…”

“…That is, they permit to connect people among them at astonishing speed, offering also vital services as an ultimate goal. Additionally, the digital revolution is continuously breaking down barriers by proposing novel paradigms (i.e., Internet of Things (IoT) [2]) and disruptive technologies (i.e., Blockchain [3]) that are able to potentially change our lives.…”

Blockchain Security and Privacy for the Internet of Things

“…In the context of Smart City application and use cases, [ 5 ] presents a blockchain-based and distributed Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system. The proposed SIEM relies on blockchain technology to securely store and access security events associated with IoT sentinels that are in charge of shielding groups of distributed and connected devices.…”