Design Guidelines and a Prototype Implementation for Cyber-Resiliency in IT/OT Scenarios Based on Blockchain and Edge Computing

Abstract

The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) and its spread in industrial environments has changed production lines, by dramatically fostering the dynamicity of data sharing and the connectivity of machines. However, such increased flexibility (also pushed by the adoption of edge devices) must not negatively affect the security and safety of industrial environments. The proposed solution adopts the Blockchain to securely store in distributed ledgers topology information and access rules, maximizing the cyber-resiliency of industrial networks. Topology information and access rules are stored and queried in a completely distributed manner, ensuring data availability even in case a centralized controller is temporarily down or the network partitioned. Moreover, Blockchain consensus algorithms foster a participative validation of topology information, to ensure the identity of interacting machines/nodes, to securely distribute topology information and commands in a privacy-preserving manner, and to trace any past modification in a non-repudiable manner. Finally, the adoption of configurable edge gateways allows to take prompt countermeasures in case potential threats are identified, by activating access rules stored in ledgers in a secure and distributed manner. In addition to solution design guidelines and architectural considerations, the paper also presents performance results achieved with our CyberChain working prototype, with the goal of not only demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed solution but also its suitability in industrial environments.

Recent Advances of Blockchain and Its Applications

“…Baranwal and Kumar [142] proposed PoSP consensus mechanism that replaces the hash puzzle in PoW with a service placement problem whose result can meanwhile help the resource allocation in edge computing. Maskey et al [143] used neural networks to decide the miner's reputation instead of a heuristic computation in a blockchain-enabled vehicular edge computing environment. Balistri et al [144] embedded blockchain into edge computing network in order to promote the cyber-resiliency, where edge nodes and service providers work as peers in a blockchain system.…”